Baltimore and the nonprofit Democracy Forward have sued the Trump administration over its proposed changes to a longstanding immigration policy, a move the city and watchdog group allege is designed to deter immigrants from using public benefits like food stamps, housing assistance and Head Start.
The lawsuit, which Baltimore Fishbowl first reported Tuesday evening, brings four counts against the presidential administration for allegedly violating federal law by working to change the definition of “public charge,” a provision of immigration policy that allows the U.S. State Department to deny green cards or legal entry to immigrants if they depend on welfare or long-term care funded by the government.
The change would include new language in the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual, grandfathering in “public assistance of any kind,” with some exceptions, as factors that could make someone ineligible for being a “public charge.” That would include widely used public benefits like Medicare, Medicaid and some housing-assistance, educational and nutritional programs.
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