A coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia has asked a federal judge to strike down the Department of Homeland Security's new public charge rule, arguing that it turns ordinary use of school meals and health coverage into grounds for denying a green card.
The suit was filed on September 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and is led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. A separate coalition of cities, headed by New York City, filed its own challenge. Neither stopped the rule from taking effect four days later, on September 18.
What changed on September 18
The regulation rescinds the 2022 public charge rule and widens the discretion of officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) when they judge whether an applicant for permanent residence is likely to become a "public charge" — someone primarily dependent on government support.
Under the version now in force, officers may weigh a far broader range of benefits than before, and may consider benefits used not only by the applicant but by members of the applicant's family. The states' filing lists school meal programs, health insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) among them.
The numbers the states put in front of the court
The coalition's central argument is not primarily about the immigrants who are denied. It is about the far larger group who never apply for help at all.
- $4.05 billion a year — the states' projected loss in Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program funding.
- $1 billion a year — their projected loss in SNAP funding.
- 35% to 60% — the disenrollment rates recorded among affected populations when a comparable rule was in place during the first Trump administration.
That gap between the number of people a rule denies and the number who quietly withdraw is the mechanism the states are describing. A federal projection cited in coverage of the rule put the number expected to drop benefits out of fear at roughly 950,000 — an order of magnitude larger than any plausible count of green cards refused.
"Hardworking families should not be forced to go without support because they fear asking for assistance will get them deported," James said in announcing the filing.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose administration joined the cities' suit, framed it differently: "Our immigrant communities are not a burden. They are the people who make New York City great."
What happens next
The rule remains in effect while the litigation proceeds. Applicants who filed before September 18 and those weighing whether to keep a child enrolled in health coverage are, for now, operating under the new standard.
The states are asking the court to vacate the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act — the same statute that has been the undoing of several immigration regulations this year, including the fixed-term student visa rule blocked one day before its own effective date.
Reporting from the Office of the New York Attorney General, Envoy Global and The Hill.
