The number of Mexicans denied visas on public charge grounds has grown sharply in the last fiscal year. From October 2018 through July 2019, 5,343 immigrant visa applications from Mexican nationals were denied on the grounds that they risked becoming a public charge. During the same year, the total number of immigrant visa denials on public charge grounds was 12,179. Both of these numbers have skyrocketed since President Obama left office, as in his last full year of 2016, the total number of public charge denials for immigrant visas was 1,033, with only 7 of those being from Mexican nationals. Applicants from other countries, including India and Haiti, also had sharp increases in denials on public charge grounds. These numbers shed light on an upcoming DHS regulation, which would base the public charge analysis not only on someone’s poverty level and the likelihood that that person would receive, among other things, Medicaid, food stamps, and prescription drug subsidies, but also on whether they have received those benefits before. In addition to the increased denials, experts also expect a chilling effect on immigrant families seeking to come to the U.S.
-Weekly Immigration Briefing by Olivia Hester, Immigration Law Analyst at Docketwise
Posted in: Immigration
posted on: August 14, 2019