Trump's Green Card Rule Fight

The story so far

As of September 14, 2026

New York and 21 other states have sued to stop the Trump administration from putting a new “public charge” rule into effect on September 18. A separate case by cities and counties, led by New York City and joined by Chicago and San Francisco, targets the same rule. The cases argue for a court order to halt the policy before it changes how green card, visa, and entry decisions are made this week.

The rule would expand when immigration officers can deny applications by counting a broader set of government benefits, including programs like food assistance and Medicaid, and by giving officers wider latitude to judge whether someone is likely to rely on those benefits in the future. It applies to people seeking permanent residence from inside the United States and to those seeking to come from abroad.

The timing matters because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services plans to switch its core green card application, Form I-485, on the same day the rule takes effect. The agency says there will be no grace period: the January 20, 2025 edition will be rejected if postmarked or filed electronically on or after September 18, and only the September 18, 2026 edition will be accepted. The new form is designed to align with the expanded public charge standard.

That pairing of a new legal standard with an immediate paperwork change is what has turned this into a race against the calendar. The coalition size — 22 states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, plus major cities with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — shows an effort to stop the rule before the intake system shifts and denials begin under the new test. If the rule proceeds, it will reach across family and employment-based cases in the backlog as well as people applying from overseas, with the updated form and stricter screening explaining how the policy would bite in practice.