The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the “public charge” rule on February 24. The proposed rule would regulate how DHS applies the “public charge” test to deny temporary admission into the U.S. or deny requests to change one’s status to lawful permanent resident (i.e., green card holder). The proposed rule does not include harmful provisions introduced by the Trump administration. Those provisions, which are no longer in effect, judged a non-U.S. citizen or legal resident a public charge if they received or were thought to receive housing assistance in the form of public housing, a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, or Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA). The formal Notice issued in February clarifies that non-cash benefits such as housing assistance do not count in the “public charge” test. The deadline for public comment on the NPRM is April 25, 2022. NLIHC previewed an advance version of the Notice in an article published on February 22 (see 2/22 Memo).
Advocates at Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) have released a webinar summarizing the proposed rule. NLIHC will also provide calls to action that include sample comments for advocates through the Keep Families Together campaign, a shared project with the National Housing Law Project. Future opportunities for public comment will also be available via the Keep Families Together website, which can be found at: https://www.keep-families-together.org/