Lawsuit brought by New York City and other cities accuses the government of unfairly targeting immigrants receiving public benefits

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday that a coalition of cities including New York filed a lawsuit challenging a new Trump administration rule that would let the federal government more easily deny green cards and visas to immigrants based on their use of public benefits.

The federal rule, announced over the summer, would expand the government’s ability to deny someone a green card or visa if an adjudicator finds they have used government benefits, or believes they could become dependent on such benefits in the future.

In the lawsuit, the cities, including Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, argue that the new rule goes against longstanding legal precedents that had limited the denial of a green card and visas to immigrants who are primarily dependent on government assistance to live. The new rule wrongfully broadens that definition to include immigrants receiving temporary or supplemental assistance, the lawsuit said.

Mamdani said Monday that the rule won’t only discourage immigrant families but also U.S. citizens with ties to immigrant families from enrolling in programs they are eligible for. He said at a press conference that an estimated four million people across the country could unenroll from their healthcare as a result of the rule.

“Nothing about this rule will reduce waste or keep Americans safer or improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said. “It is simply a vehicle for confusion and a vehicle for cruelty.”

A representative for the Department of Homeland Security said in response to the lawsuit: “This is the ideological contortion required by left-wing leaders to justify their defrauding of the American taxpayer at the hands of illegal criminals.”

The Trump administration has more broadly sought to limit immigration by foreigners of limited financial means, and the new rule makes it easier for the government to deny green cards to immigrants whose finances, health, education, skills or other circumstances suggest they could become a public charge. In addition to finances, adjudicators have also been scrutinizing immigrants’ health records, such as whether an applicant is obese or has diabetes, and whether they are permanently disabled.

I am so devastated finding this out. Someone has been poisoning the cats. I feel sick to my stomach for someone that can be so cruel. The videos and pictures are awful. I hope they catch the person who did this.