Employment-based green cards limit 'twice as high as usual this year'

The U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments related to the changes the Trump administration brought to the “public charge” rule.

Under Donald Trump’s presidency, the rule was changed to widen the definition of which immigrants can be denied green cards. An Arizona-led group of Republic states asked the justices to allow them to defend the rule in federal court, “even though the Biden administration had abandoned it,” according to a report from CNBC.

Previously, a lower appellate court also denied the states’ efforts to intervene to defend the rule. The justices questioned Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s argument that the Biden administration’s maneuvers were “unprecedented.”

“The new administration often changes its position in cases. So, what’s different from this case, in which the administration declines to appeal an adverse ruling?” asked Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative. “There’s kind of a mismatch here between what you’re saying went wrong and what you’re saying you want,” Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal, said.

Previous guidance from two decades earlier before the change defined a public charge as someone “primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.” In 2019, however, President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security interpreted when a non-U.S. citizen is likely to become a public charge and therefore ineligible for permanent residency, expanding the definition to include...

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