State sues to block Trump immigrant policy

Connecticut has joined a multistate lawsuit that aims to stop the Trump administration from denying green cards to immigrants who receive public assistance, including food stamps, Medicaid and housing vouchers.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Connecticut, New York and Vermont. It targets a new federal rule that Connecticut Attorney General William Tong described as “a partisan scheme to vilify immigrants who — like generations of families before them — seek support to lift their families out of poverty.”

“We are talking about access to doctors, healthy food and safe housing — the most basic foundations that kids need to grow and thrive,” he said.

The Trump administration, however, said it is imposing the new restrictions to prod immigrants toward selfsufficiency.

During an interview with NPR last week, the acting head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, cited Emma Lazarus’ famous poem etched into the Statue of Liberty as a rationalization for the new rule.

“Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet,” he said. “And who will not become a public charge.”

Immigrants applying for green cards are already required by federal law to prove they won’t become a public charge — meaning they won’t pose a financial burden to the United States.

But under the new rule, which would take effect on Oct. 15, the definition of “public charge,” traditionally meant to refer to someone who is primarily dependent on public assistance, has been expanded for immigrants to include those who depend on one or two social service programs for limited periods of time.