The new migration initiative from president Trump
The government of Donald Trump continues to promote a policy aimed at curbing legal immigration to the United States, this time contemplating penalizing legal immigrants who have received social assistance from the government, said a report by NBC News. According to the note, the White House is finalizing the details of a proposal that would make it difficult for immigrants to obtain the green card if they or someone else in their home has ever used social welfare services such as "Obamacare", child health insurance, food stamps or other benefits.
The regulations have not yet been published and the details of the guidelines are still unknown. The proposed restrictive amendments were attributed to White House Special Advisor Stephen Miller and would not need congressional approval, NBC said, citing internal sources with knowledge of the plan.
The news report from NBC News also points out, "the use of some public benefits such as Social Security Insurance has already prevented immigrants from obtaining legal status in the past, but the programs included in the draft of the recent plan could result in the rejection of immigrant families that earn as much as 250 percent of the poverty line.”
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the network that the agency "is committed to enforce the existing immigration law, which clearly intends to protect the US taxpayer by ensuring that foreign citizens seeking to enter or remain in The US is self-sufficient.”
The criminalization of foreigners residing legally in the country has been contemplated for months, when another DHS proposal came to light to prevent them from permanent residency if they depend on the United States government and state and local entities to obtain resources.
According to that previous proposal, receiving public benefits "would imply an incentive for foreigners to migrate to the United States."
The current guidelines explicitly prohibit immigration officials from evaluating the receipt of non-monetary assistance in order to decide whether a permanent residence applicant can become a burden on the public treasury.
Parallel to these proposals, the Immigration and Citizenship Service (USCIS) has implemented a new protocol in which a legal immigrant will be forced to appear before an Immigration Court if he abuses "any program related to the receipt of public benefits."
The immigrant will be subject to a removal process when there is evidence of "fraud or deliberate misrepresentation in relation to any matter or request to another government entity," the memorandum published in late June explains.
These new initiatives are added to others of the same nature as the proposal to end the visa lottery and the elimination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans and Haitians. On the other hand, the current administration proposes to reduce family reunifications and limit the issuance of H1-B visas for specialized professionals with university degrees.
