NEW YORK, Sept 15, CMC – New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a coalition of 21 other states and the District of Columbia in pursuing legal action to stop what the it describes as “a catastrophic” new Trump administration policy that would allow immigration officials to punish Caribbean and other immigrants for lawful use of public benefits.
In the lawsuit filed alongside separate legal action by a coalition of cities led by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the coalition challenges a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “public charge” rule that would give individual immigration officers sweeping discretion to deny green cards based on nearly any use of public benefits.
James said the coalition are asking the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) to block “this unlawful measure so that New Yorkers do not have to fear that seeking help today could jeopardize their – or their family members’ – immigration status in the future.
“Hardworking families should not be forced to go without the support they need because they fear asking for assistance will get them deported,” James said.
“This rule preys on that fear and counts on families forfeiting the food assistance, health care coverage, and other public benefits to which they are legally entitled. My office fought this exact policy once before and won, and we are leading the nation to ensure the Trump administration cannot inflict this harm on families again,” she added.
Mamdani said “the new public charge rule seeks to push immigrant families away from the programs that have kept people fed and healthy for decades.
“New Yorkers will be afraid to see a doctor or ask for help they are legally entitled to. That fear will not stop at the families that the federal government is targeting. Families who remain fully eligible for benefits will feel a chilling effect, and all New Yorkers will pay for it,” the mayor added.
James said that, for over 140 years, the United States has defined a “public charge” as someone likely to become primarily dependent on the government for long-term subsistence.
She said that, in 2022, the federal government issued a rule limiting public charge determinations to cash assistance for income maintenance or long-term institutionalization at government expense.
The New York Attorney General said the Trump administration’s new rule, taking effect September 18, would let immigration officers count nearly any public benefit, used for any length of time, against an applicant.
She said the rule also includes benefits legally used by family members, even if the family member is a US citizen.
Under the rule, James said a noncitizen parent’s green card application could be at risk because their US citizen child used state-provided health insurance.
She said immigration officers could count a child’s participation in a school’s free lunch programme against their noncitizen parent’s application for citizenship.
“There is no clear limit on which benefits, or how much use, count against an applicant, leaving families to guess which forms of routine, lawful assistance might put their immigration status at risk,” James said.
In the lawsuit, the attorneys general note that the states and local governments that administer these programs will bear direct costs, from new communications to staff training to information technology changes needed to manage the disruption.
The coalition is asking a federal judge to declare the 2026 public charge rule unlawful and vacate it, “protecting states and their residents from its unlawful harms.”
CMC/nk/ir/2026