The Legal Aid Society, on behalf of Make the Road NY, African Services Committee, Asian American Federation, Catholic Charities Community Services, and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., jointly challenged Department of Homeland Security rulemaking that created a wealth test for non-citizens seeking lawful permanent residence status or entry into the U.S. The rule unlawfully redefined the term “public charge,” transforming it from a term that Congress intended to apply to only a narrow category of people who are institutionalized or otherwise primarily or wholly dependent upon public cash assistance, to instead include any immigrant deemed likely to receive even small amounts of a wide range of cash or non-cash benefits–at any point in the future–including food assistance, health care, and housing assistance.

In October 2019, a federal trial judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule, but the Supreme Court stayed the injunction in January 2020, and the rule went into effect a month later. The Second Circuit affirmed the injunction in August 2020, finding that the Trump Administration’s rule undermined Congress’s “unambiguous” intent. In March 2021, the Biden Administration withdrew the government’s appeal to the Supreme Court, lifting the stay on the injunction in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.