Federal Judge Rules Sternly Against Racist Trump Policy

By
Carissa House-Dunphy
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0
1978

Donald Trump has had a tough time in court battles recently. In July, the Supreme Court made a decision making it allowable for the Southern District of New York to pursue their case against Trump for alleged tax fraud and bank fraud, ruling that they can push for the release of his tax documents. In the same month, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s attempts to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to remain in the country. As July comes to a close, a federal court has blocked another of Trump’s moves, which involves implementation of the “public charge” rule.

Trump’s “public charge” rule” restricts immigrants from seeking legal residency if they have relied on any public welfare service, including Medicaid, housing assistance, or food stamps by making it more difficult for them. In light of the pandemic, advocacy groups have insisted that immigrants will be less likely to request medical assistance for testing and/or treatment should they contract the virus. Although the Trump administration has insisted that the language is clear that any treatment or testing for COVID-19 isn’t restricted, a federal court judge blocked the policy from moving forward.

CNN reports that:

‘Judge George Daniels on Wednesday said the worsening coronavirus pandemic provided more urgency.

‘”What were previously theoretical harms have proven to be true. We no longer need to imagine the worst-case scenario; we are experiencing its dramatic effects in real time,” Daniels said.’

At a time when fears of the spread of the coronavirus have been heightened by a surging rate of infections and rising number of those infected being hospitalized, creating fear in the immigrant community about seeking treatment risks serious increases to the already high number of U.S. deaths, which is currently topping 150,000 people.

‘Daniels underscored the dangers the rule might pose in the midst of a pandemic, despite an alert pushed out by US Citizenship and Immigration Services saying Covid-19 medical treatment and services would not count against immigrants.

‘”Any policy that deters residents from seeking testing and treatment for COVID-19 increases the risk of infection for such residents and the public. Adverse government action that targets immigrants, however, is particularly dangerous during a pandemic,” Daniels wrote.’

The Supreme Court has allowed the policy to go forward in other cases, although with compromises between liberal and conservative justices. While the liberal justices argued that the pandemic had changed the circumstances enough to warrant blocking the measure, Chief Justice John Roberts, the swing vote between the four liberal and four conservative judges, disagreed.

‘Roberts was unmoved and believed administration guidance was clear that immigrants could obtain Covid-19 care without consequence to their green card applications. Other conservative justices agreed.

‘But Roberts, in an effort to tamp down tensions with the court’s liberals, agreed to a modest compromise that sent a signal the liberals sought in the court’s order and ensured that the challengers were not prevented from pressing ahead.’

Featured image screenshot via YouTube



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