On Thursday, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Victoria against President Biden, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and other officials, according to a report from National Review.
Paxton’s suit claims that the group’s new rule relaxing the definition of “public charge” for immigrants to exclude reliance on government benefits is further undermining border enforcement.
Paxton tweeted on Thursday, “I’ve sued Biden over a dozen times to secure our southern border. I’ll keep suing & winning until he & his lawless Dems follow the law.”
The Trump administration had previously tightened green card restrictions for applicants who had received public benefits, such as Medicaid, housing vouchers, and food stamps, in the past.
The Biden administration halted the enforcement of this regulation last year and instead imposed a new version based on the 1999 “public charge” standard, which defined it as someone who is “primarily dependent on the government for subsistence,” via public cash assistance or institutionalization for long-term care at government expense, according to National Review.
This means that dependence on non-cash benefits, such as food stamps, health services, and transportation vouchers, will not be taken into account for green card eligibility.
In a statement in February, Mayorkas said that “under this proposed rule, we will return to the historical understanding of the term ‘public charge’ and individuals will not be penalized for choosing to access the health benefits and other supplemental government services available to them.”
Paxton has petitioned the courts to block the implementation of the new Biden rule, arguing that it broke the law by rescinding the Trump-era rule.
Texas has previously filed many lawsuits against the Biden administration, largely concerning the border crisis.
The state is also part of a Republican coalition trying to maintain Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allows for the expulsion of illegal immigrants in order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
