A coalition of 22 US states and the District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a new Department of Homeland Security rule that would give immigration officers broader discretion to consider immigrants’ use of public benefits when deciding applications for permanent residence and other forms of admission. A separate lawsuit has also been filed by New York City and several other local governments challenging the same policy.
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The states’ suit, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and joined by states including California, Illinois, Michigan and Washington, was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The coalition is asking the court to declare the new “public charge” rule unlawful and prevent its implementation.
Under US immigration law, the “public charge” provision allows authorities to consider whether certain non-citizens are likely to become primarily dependent on government support. DHS’s new rule rescinds the narrower 2022 framework and restores wider discretion to immigration officers to consider relevant circumstances when assessing whether an applicant is likely to become a public charge. DHS says the change better reflects congressional intent and the principle that immigrants should be self-reliant.
The rule, scheduled to take effect on September 18, 2026, could allow immigration officials to take account of the use of means-tested benefits, potentially including programmes involving food, healthcare and housing assistance, when making public-charge determinations.
The states challenging the rule argue that it gives immigration officers excessive discretion and could discourage eligible immigrant families from accessing benefits to which they are legally entitled. They also contend that the policy exceeds DHS’s statutory authority and violates requirements of federal administrative law. Those are allegations before the court and have not yet been finally determined.
James said the rule could force immigrant families to weigh access to healthcare, food assistance and other support against concerns about their immigration status. Similar concerns were raised by the coalition of local governments led by New York City, which includes Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County and King County.
DHS, however, has defended the policy, saying the 2022 rule was too restrictive and prevented officials from making sufficiently comprehensive public-charge assessments. The department said the new framework restores broader discretion and better aligns public-charge determinations with federal immigration law.
The legal challenge revives a long-running dispute over the scope of the public-charge doctrine. The first Trump administration expanded the criteria in 2019, while the Biden administration subsequently replaced that policy in 2022 with a narrower rule focused principally on cash assistance and long-term institutional care.
The court is now being asked to intervene before the new rule takes effect, with the plaintiffs seeking immediate relief while their broader challenge to the legality of the policy proceeds.
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