New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by a coalition of 21 other states and the District of Columbia, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday asking a judge to block a new Trump administration rule granting immigration officers nearly unfettered discretion to deny green cards and visas to immigrants who use public benefits.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, contends the new interpretation of the “public charge” rule seeks to punish immigrants who make lawful use of benefits, such as food assistance, exceeds federal authority, and will have a “chilling effect” resulting in noncitizens withdrawing from or forgoing lawful benefit programs.
The states’ coalition asks the court to block implementation of the final rule change, which is scheduled to take effect on Friday, and declare the measure an unlawful overreach of executive power.
James announced the litigation alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a City Hall press conference. The city is part of a separate coalition of cities and counties also mounting legal challenges to the federal rule changes. That action also asks a judge to void the final rule change as an unlawful overreach by the Trump administration.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which formally published the final rule in the Federal Register on July 20, said in a brief statement the litigation was the result of "sanctuary states" that are fearful of losing federal funding as "illegals and noncitizens" remove themselves from government programs.
The contested federal rule change comes as the Trump administration continues to ramp up measures aimed at clamping down on both authorized and unauthorized immigration, including recent initiatives curtailing humanitarian immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
“Hardworking families should not be forced to go without the support they need because they fear asking for assistance will get them deported,” James said in a statement regarding the new states' lawsuit.
“This rule preys on that fear and counts on families forfeiting the food assistance, healthcare coverage, and other public benefits to which they are legally entitled,” James said. Her office, in Trump's first term, helped turn back a previous effort to reinterpret the public charge law to the detriment of immigrants who use public benefits.
Mamdani, in a separate statement, echoed the view that the rule change would deter immigrants from seeking the help they need.
“That fear will not stop at the families that the federal government is targeting,” Mamdani said. “Families who remain fully eligible for benefits will feel a chilling effect, and all New Yorkers will pay for it.”
The federal government has long defined a "public charge" as someone likely to become primarily dependent on the government for long-term subsistence.
In 2022, under the Biden administration, the federal government issued a rule limiting public charge determinations to cash assistance for income maintenance or long-term institutionalization at government expense.
The Trump administration, which has long sought a broader definition, would allow immigration officers to count nearly any public benefit used for any length of time against an applicant.
The rule also takes into account benefits legally used by an applicant's family members, even if the family member is a U.S. citizen.
The DHS statement said the litigation was brought by "left-wing leaders" seeking to justify their misuse of taxpayer dollars for the benefit of "illegal criminals."
This story was updated with additional information and comment.
