By SUSANNAH LUTHI
A narrowly divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to begin enforcing a rule making it harder for poor immigrants to gain green cards.
The justices in a 5-4 vote along ideological lines said they would let the controversial immigration rules go forward even as lower courts wrestle with multiple legal challenges against them.
The policy in question would expand the government's ability to refuse green cards or visas for legal immigrants determined to be a "public charge," or dependent on public assistance. Those using or likely to use Medicaid, food stamps and other safety net programs would face greater scrutiny from immigration officials.
The rules were pushed by White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and represent one of Trump’s strongest efforts to restrict legal immigration.
Multiple federal judges blocked the rules before they were slated to take effect last October, after states and immigrant rights groups filed challenges. Federal judges in California, Maryland, and New York California blocked implementation, but appeals courts later lifted all but New York’s freeze. That was removed by the Supreme Court on Monday, allowing the policy to take effect almost everywhere.
Justice Neil Gorsuch in a blistering concurring opinion criticized federal judges who issue nationwide blocks on administration rules, potentially teeing up a wider challenge to the practice that has often stymied major parts of Trump’s agenda and drawn scorn from Attorney General William Barr.
Gorsuch, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that the "real problem" in the case is the "increasingly common practice of trial courts ordering relief that transcends the cases before them.” In those situations, he wrote, "it is hard to see how the court could still be acting in the judicial role of resolving cases and controversies."
A spokesperson for the Justice Department hailed the decision to lift the freeze on the public charge rule and called on the Supreme Court to more broadly address the legitimacy of nationwide injunctions.
"The Department of Justice is grateful for the Supreme Court’s decision today to stay another nationwide injunction that prevented the administration from implementing an important immigration policy well within the scope of the laws passed by Congress," the spokesperson said.
Lower courts are expected to hear lawsuits on the public charge rules in the coming months. It’s possible the Supreme Court, which did not rule on the merits of those lawsuits Monday, will review the issue again.
Immigrant rights groups have predicted the new public charge policy will discourage poor immigrants from seeking necessary services and drastically curtail visas for immigrants. An analysis from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found applications for about 42 percent of legal immigrants could see their green card applications "weighed negatively" as a result, while 94 percent could face extra scrutiny after using at least one of the public programs targeted by the Trump policy.
Public charge denials of poor immigrants have spiked under the Trump administration even without this sweeping policy in place. The State Department disqualified more than 12,000 visa applicants on public charge grounds last year, according to preliminary data reviewed by POLITICO, after rejecting just 1,033 people in fiscal year 2016 under the Obama administration.
Susan Welber, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society, which is fighting the policy in the New York courts, urged immigrants to consult with legal experts about the policy “before assuming it applies to them.”
New York Attorney General Tish James, who had earlier secured the injunction lifted by the Supreme Court on Monday, said the state will continue to oppose the rule in court.
“We remain committed to fighting against this misguided rule and will continue to pursue every legal tool available to permanently stop it,” she said.
The public charge rule remains frozen only in Illinois, where a federal appeals courts has upheld a state-wide injunction.
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