Trump wants feds to collect bills for immigrant welfare

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ordered the government to enforce a decades-old law that requires Americans who bring migrants into the country to take financial responsibility if they claim welfare benefits, his latest attempt to curb U.S. immigration.

In a memo signed Wednesday and released Thursday, Trump directed his administration to spend the next 90 days developing rules for U.S. citizens to reimburse the government for each dollar of means-tested federal aid provided to immigrants they’re sponsoring. That means Americans who seek to bring family members to the U.S. could be obligated to pay the government back if the immigrants use programs such as food stamps, Medicaid or the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“Financial sponsors who pledge to financially support the sponsored alien in the event the alien applies for or receives public benefits will be expected to fulfill their commitment under law,” Trump said in the memo.

Trump also ordered his administration to determine within 180 days which individuals could lose their ability to sponsor migrants based on delinquency.

The move relies on language in welfare-reform legislation signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996. The law was never fully implemented, and it’s not clear how it would work in practice.

Championed by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the affidavit requirement largely appears to be an effort to deter Americans from sponsoring foreign family members to live in the U.S. Trump has repeatedly criticized what he calls “chain migration,” and has called for the U.S. to adopt a system in which educated and skilled immigrants would be favored for admission.

But the administration’s plans to enforce the requirement aren’t clear.

Federal public assistance programs are administered by different agencies, including Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture. Tracking benefits received by individual immigrants and billing the costs to their American sponsors would require coordination not only across the federal government but also with state and local jurisdictions.