Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal said she got Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli to publicly commit during a House hearing this week that the Trump administration’s public charge rule won’t punish families who are trying to seek care during the current U.S. public health crisis, tweeting “that he committed to me [at] an all-member briefing that he’d publicly and explicitly clarify that the rule does not apply during COVID-19 outbreak.”
This could be vital in helping slow the spread of coronavirus, and a major win for advocates who have long warned about the dangers a public charge rule means for families everywhere. But at the same time, this is Ken Cuccinelli we’re talking about, the same man who gets excited over ICE raids the same way the rest of us get excited watching Jennifer Lopez and Shakira perform at the Super Bowl. So folks have every reason to question what the administration says, and then actually does.
If U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services did partially loosen some of the recently implemented public charge rule, immigration reporter Hamed Aleaziz tweeted, “it would be a big deal. The policy allows the government to deny permanent residency to immigrants who officials believe are likely to use public benefits, such as food stamps, housing vouchers, and Medicaid.”
It’s a discriminatory attack on families that shouldn’t be in place at all. While a significant number of federal judges had issued rulings blocking the rule change—one called the policy “repugnant to the American Dream”—the Supreme Court in January gave the okay for the administration to roll out the policy while litigation continues, which Cuccinelli of course celebrated. “The U.S. Supreme Court is fed up with the federal activist judges,” he said.
Still, some House Democrats seemed assured by his testimony this week. “Mr. Cuccinelli said in no uncertain terms that nobody seeking aid for coronavirus will be in any way affected by the public charge rule. Often times you hear people hedge. No—there was no hedge,” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut says according to The Hill."It is [reassuring]—assuming it's true.” Aleaziz later tweeted that Jayapal issued a statement “calling on Trump administration to make public this declaration. Still no word from USCIS and immigration officers had not been told of any changes earlier today.”