DHS Public Charge Rule Vacated Nationwide

On November 2, 2020 the district court in Cook County, Illinois, et al v. Wolf et. al., (19-cv-6334), granted summary judgement in favor of Plaintiffs on their claim that DHS's Public Charge Rule (84 Fed. Reg. 41, 292) violates the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. § 701 et. seq.) Specifically, the district court ruled that:

• The public charge exceeds DHS's authority under the public charge provision of the INA (Immigration and Nationality Act);
• The public charge is not in accordance with law; and,
• The public charge is arbitrary and capricious.

The court immediately set aside the DHS Public Charge Rule nationwide. DHS is not permitted to apply the public charge rule as of yesterday, which includes the submission of Form I-944 and the information contained in that form. As of now, USCIS has not posted any guidance on implementation of the order on its public charge website, but DHS may not apply the rule.

***UPDATE: Since this blog post was originally published, the Public Charge Rule has been made effective again.***

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This blog post does not serve as legal advice and does not establish any client-attorney privilege. Do not take any action based on the information contained in this post without consulting a qualified immigration attorney. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our legal team directly.

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This information comes from a news release from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA Doc. No. 20110232).