Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its recent rule change involving immigrants and their eligibility for receiving government-issued welfare benefits, according to an exclusive report from Breitbart News.
On Thursday evening, the Republican Paxton confirmed the lawsuit on Twitter.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Fair and Humane Public Charge Rule restores the "historical understanding of a 'public charge' that had been in place for decades, until the [Trump] administration began to consider supplemental public health benefits such as Medicaid and nutritional assistance as part of the public charge inadmissibility determination. The rule change ... speaks to the Biden administration's commitment to restoring faith in our legal immigration system."
As a counter, though, the Texas AG office argues the rule change "prevents consideration of statutorily required factors when determining whether an alien is likely to become a 'public charge.'"
Paxton's office also says federal immigration law requires a "public charge" determination for immigrants, which ostensibly prohibits migrants from staying in the country "if they are likely to use" welfare programs, such as Medicaid, food stamps or government housing aid.
"The Biden administration has demonstrated its intent not to enforce the law and to open the borders to illegal aliens who will be dependent upon welfare benefits," read a press release from Paxton's office, via Breitbart.
The release continued: "The Biden administration is committed to opening the borders to aliens who lack the ability to take care of themselves. Texans should not have to pay for these costly immigrants, nor should any other American.
"I will continue to defend the rule of law and fight to ensure that the massive costs of illegal immigration don’t further burden taxpayers," added Paxton's statement.
Studies show, according to Breitbart, that taxpayers are billed roughly $1,600 a year per immigrant and that immigrant households consume 33% "more cash welfare than American citizens."
Also, approximately 63% of "noncitizen households use at least one form of public welfare, while only about 35% of native-born American households are on welfare," according to Breitbart.
In its lawsuit, the Texas AG office asserts the rule change limits "public charge" considerations to cash benefits, without regard for "in-kind" government benefits such as retirement, welfare, health, disability, food, assisted housing, postsecondary education, and many others. Such noncash benefits were included in 2019 expansion of the rule by former President Donald Trump."
The rule change, according to the lawsuit text, also "de-fangs the statutory requirement 'rendering most family-sponsored applicants automatically inadmissible on public charge grounds unless they obtained an enforceable affidavit of support from a sponsor' by prohibiting a meaningful evaluation of whether the affidavit is true and correct."
The bottom line is that the Texas AG office claims the Biden rule change aims to ensure that "virtually no alien is ever found to be a public charge."
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