NY Federal Court Enjoins Public Charge Rule

On July 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order stating that the motion for preliminary injunction and temporary stay of the USCIS Final Rule on Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds application is granted. The government is enjoined from enforcing, applying, implementing, or treating as effective the Rule for any period during which there is a declared national health emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The order notes, “a nationwide injunction is both necessary to redress the harms caused by the Rule and appropriate given the strong federal interest in uniformity of the national health and immigration policies at issue here.”

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a separate order stating that the motion for preliminary injunction enjoining the application or implementation of the 2018 FAM Revisions, DOS Rule, and Proclamation is also granted. The order notes, “a geographically limited injunction would be especially unworkable in a case such as this, where consular officers on foreign soil would have to determine how to apply different rules to different applicants.”

USCIS announced that it will implement the injunction immediately, although it will likely also challenge the order.  Iandoli Desai & Cronin PC will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates when available.