AG Ferguson Sues Trump To Block 'Public Charge' Change

SEATTLE, WA — Washington joined 12 other states in a lawsuit filed Wednesday to block the Trump administration from expanding the definition of a "public charge" to include legal immigrants who use temporary public assistance.

The reclassification of "public charge" was announced this week by the Trump administration. If it takes effect, immigrants legally in the U.S. who seek public assistance — like food stamps or Medicaid — would be denied visas or green cards.

The federal government defines a "public charge" as someone who depends on the government to sustain their life in the long term. Adding temporary assistance benefits like food stamps, Ferguson and other attorneys general argue, would disproportionately affect low-income immigrants.

"The Trump Administration’s message is clear: if you’re wealthy you’re welcome, if you’re poor, you’re not," Ferguson said in a statement Wednesday. "It forces families into an impossible choice — to sacrifice their dream of becoming Americans in order to provide health care, food or a roof over their children’s heads, or let their families go without in order to remain in the country.

Ferguson said the change could endanger about 455,000 children who live and Washington and have at least one immigrant parent. Those families might choose to go without food or healthcare to avoid deportation.

The expansion of the public charge definition is set to go into effect on Oct. 15, but the suit filed Wednesday could delay that. The suit alleges that the definition change violates the Welfare Reform Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Welfare Reform Act "allows many lawful immigrants to apply for public benefits if they have been in the country for at least five years. The rule eviscerates Congress’ intent by imposing an effective 'bait and switch' — punishing immigrants for using public benefits for which Congress

itself made them eligible," the lawsuit says.

In announcing the "public charge" this week, Trump's acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli changed Emma Lazarus' famous Statue of Liberty poem to underscore the administration's priorities.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus" reads.

"Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge," Cuccinelli said in press appearances this week.

This is Ferguson's 46th lawsuit against the Trump administration. He boasts that 13 of those cases were won and cannot be appealed.