WASHINGTON, DC – Today, FWD.us, in partnership with a diverse group of more than 100 companies and associations, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit highlighting the harmful economic impacts of the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to the public charge policy. Signers include Boundless Immigration, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Twitter and Warby Parker. They collectively represent roughly one million American workers, and generate more than one trillion dollars in revenue.
FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement:
“This strong support from the business community shows that the Trump Administration’s backdoor effort to drastically slash legal immigration levels through the “public charge’ regulation will harm the ability of immigrants to achieve the American dream. Creating substantial hurdles for people to immigrate to the United States is counterproductive to ensuring a dynamic, growing economy, and hurts American prosperity.
“Our communities and our economy are made stronger and more prosperous because of the contributions of immigrants of all skill levels, who create jobs, launch successful businesses, and achieve breakthroughs in science and medicine that improve the quality of life for all Americans. The United States can continue leading the world in a global economy, but only if we put in place the commonsense policies that build a country where immigrants can thrive. FWD.us will continue to fight back against efforts to restrict legal immigration.”
More Background
The public charge rule has been stayed by several courts around the country. Earlier this week, the Trump Administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to dissolve the stays, which would allow the rule to go into effect while litigation proceeds.
If the public charge rule goes into effect, legal immigrants could be denied a temporary visa or a green card if they have poor credit scores, earn less than a comfortable middle-class salary, are over the age of 61, have debt of any kind, or lack previous educational degrees, among many other disqualifying factor. In October, 5 federal courts ruled against the government and blocked DHS from implementing its version of the public charge rule. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld an injunction on the rule entered by a federal district judge in New York. Despite this, the Trump Administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the rule to still be implemented.
