Opposing the Rescission of the 2022 Public Charge Rule
Below is an excerpt from a public comment submitted to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in regard to the rescission of the 2022 Public Charge Rule on Dec 17th, 2025.
As a public health scholar and community-based researcher working with Latinx immigrant and Indigenous communities in California, I strongly oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule to rescind the 2022 definition of “public charge.” The 2022 rule was a critical corrective to the discriminatory and harmful 2019 version, and it helped restore clarity and trust for immigrant families who need access to health, nutrition, and housing support.
Rolling back the 2022 rule would once again allow individual immigration officers broad and subjective discretion in determining who may become a "public charge." In practice, this opens the door to increased racial and class bias, disproportionately harming Black, Brown, and low-income immigrants, particularly those in multilingual and mixed-status households.