U.S. Supreme Court Allows Trump to Continue Targeting Migrants of Color

Trump’s “public charge” policy allows the administration to implement a rule denying legal permanent residency to certain immigrants who are deemed likely to need public assistance in the future.

On Monday, the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for one of Donald Trump’s more extreme immigration policies. In a 5–4 ruling, the conservative-leaning high court tossed aside a ruling by a federal judge blocking the public charge regulation while the case continues to be argued in lower courts.

This ambitious and draconian effort by the Trump administration allows United States officials to implement a sweeping rule that many critics warn will close America’s doors to low-income migrants and migrants of color. Immigrants rights advocates describe the rule as a wealth test that would disproportionately keep non-white migrants out of the United States.

The states of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, along with New York City and several nonprofit groups, have filed lawsuits to block the implementation of the policy. On October 11, U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels in Manhattan called the rule “repugnant to the American Dream” and a “policy of exclusion in search of a justification.”

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