The Biden administration’s move to ignore rules dating to the 1800s that require immigrants to be self-sufficient faces a new Supreme Court challenge this week when Arizona and a dozen other states demand the White House to block obvious welfare cases from entering the United States.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Wednesday is scheduled to argue that the administration must enforce the “public charge” law that was used by the Trump administration to limit immigration and cut the welfare expenses of states typically stuck with the bill.
Among the many Trump immigration rules President Joe Biden dumped was the public charge rule that blocked immigrants reliant on welfare from entering the country. Brnovich said that Biden’s open-door policy has resulted in huge expenses for states forced to provide benefits, including some they don’t even give U.S. citizens.
“I think for most hardworking, if not every hardworking American taxpayer, regarding immigration, the notion that people are going to come in and basically be subsidized by federal taxpayers and get all these government benefits such as free healthcare, free housing, free food when hardworking taxpayers and homeless veterans don’t get those kinds of benefits, is just completely mind-blowing. It’s mind-boggling,” Brnovich told Secrets.
When other federal officials won’t defend the law, I will.
That’s why our office has fought to defend the Public Charge Rule all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. We look forward to making our case tomorrow morning. https://t.co/OxMNnEZMFw
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) February 22, 2022
“The public charge requirement is a bedrock of our entire U.S. immigration system. It stands for the proposition that the new arrivals are expected to be responsible, self-sufficient, and contributing members of society in order to come in. This is a centuries-old policy that I think reflects the best of American values,” Brnovich said.
The son of immigrants himself, he added, “Yes, we are a nation of immigrants. Yes, this is the land of opportunity. But it is not the welfare state. And hardworking taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing people that have come into the country.”
The price of illegal immigration has been put in the billions of dollars annually, much paid for by states that run social welfare, education, housing, and food programs.
For Brnovich, it is the third time arguing before the Supreme Court, rare for a state attorney general.
He has led several conservative states in challenging several actions by the Biden administration on immigration, the border, and elections. He is the leading GOP candidate to take on Sen. Mark Kelly in the fall midterm congressional elections.
The administration has recently tweaked its approach to the public charge rule, but some states said that they are still getting the short stick as the president escalates entries of illegal immigrants. Barring migrants from receiving green cards and other immigration benefits because they are poor, said the administration, is “not consistent” with U.S. values.
The administration has also pushed amnesty for some 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and even toyed with the idea of giving illegal immigrants $450,000 each.
By arguing the case on Wednesday, Brnovich told Secrets that he hopes also to renew the focus on the border crisis and get the media to cover it again.
Since last summer, when record numbers of immigrants were encountered at the border, the media and much of Washington have turned to other issues. But the crisis has not abated. Twice as many illegal immigrants tried to cross in January as in January 2021, according to border officials.
“It’s shocking to me that no one’s talking about it. I mean, it’s just been such a huge case for a lot of reasons,” he said.
