More than 20 Democratic-led states and a group of large cities filed lawsuits on Monday, September 14, 2026, challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s new public charge rule, which is scheduled to take effect on Friday, September 18. The rule gives immigration officers broad discretion to deny green cards to people who have used public assistance for food, health care or housing.
The states’ lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and is led by New York Attorney General Letitia James together with California and Illinois. The coalition also includes Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania’s governor has joined. A separate suit, also in Manhattan federal court, was brought by New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Seattle and King County. The states argue that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it is arbitrary and capricious and exceeds DHS’s statutory authority. They are asking the court to declare the rule unlawful and vacate it. In its announcement, New Jersey’s attorney general’s office said the rule reaches benefits including Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, housing assistance and emergency medical treatment. The office estimated that the resulting disenrollment could cost the state more than $4 billion a year in federal Medicaid and CHIP funding and more than $1 billion in SNAP. DHS dismissed the suits, saying the plaintiff states are worried about losing federal money if noncitizens leave welfare programs.
The challenged rule was published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2026. It rescinds the 2022 public charge regulations and returns to a case-by-case “totality of the circumstances” test. USCIS issued Policy Manual guidance implementing it on August 18. For benefits received on or after September 18, officers may consider any means-tested benefit, not just cash assistance and long-term institutional care. The guidance specifically names food stamps, housing assistance and college financial aid. The rule also revives public charge bonds (Form I-945), which USCIS can invite an applicant to post in a Notice of Intent to Deny.
What it means right now: filing a lawsuit does not pause the rule. Early coverage did not report an emergency motion or a hearing set before Friday, so unless a judge acts first, the rule applies to Forms I-485 postmarked or electronically filed on or after September 18. Courts have stepped in at the last minute before: one day before the Duration of Status rule was due to take effect, a federal judge in Massachusetts postponed it. Still, applicants should not count on relief arriving in time. Two dates matter. An I-485 postmarked before September 18 is not subject to the new guidance, and benefits received before September 18 are judged under the older, narrower standard.
The rule is not limited to family-based cases. Employment-based applicants, including EB-2 advanced-degree professionals and National Interest Waiver filers, are subject to the public charge ground. Humanitarian categories such as asylees, refugees and VAWA self-petitioners remain exempt. For most NIW and EB-2 applicants, the education-and-skills and financial-status factors weigh in their favor, but anyone in a household that received non-cash benefits should document their situation carefully and follow the litigation over the coming days.
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Source: Reddit r/USCIS