WASHINGTON (CNS): On October 11, a United States (US) federal judge blocked an attempt by the administration of the president, Donald Trump, to deny legal status to some immigrants who applied for social safety-net programmes from the government.
Judge George Daniels of the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, said the rule, which was set to go into effect on October 15, would have caused “irreparable harm.”
Some Catholic groups, including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), had launched a legal fight against its implementation and they lauded the action.
“We welcome this common sense decision,” said Anna Gallagher, the executive director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc.
“We hope it will ease the worries of our immigrant brothers and sisters who are fearful of using services to which they and their families have a right,” she said.
The rule would have placed a roadblock on the path to legal immigration for immigrants who are poor and would have had to choose between facing hardship or obtaining a green card or other legal documents to stay in the country.
The USCCB has long argued against what came to be known as the “public charge rule.”
