WASHINGTON, DC–The White House released a presidential proclamation entitled “Suspension of Entry of Immigrants Who Will Financially Burden the United States Healthcare System” Friday, targeting legal immigrants without health insurance.
Doug Rand, President and Co-Founder of Boundless Immigration, summarized the presidential proclamation the following way:
- This order aims to ban all immigrants abroad from entering the United States unless they either (a) “will be covered by approved health insurance” within 30 days of entry, or (b) possess “the financial resources to pay for reasonably foreseeable medical costs.”
- It is scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 3, 2019, one month from now.
- It would only apply to individuals seeking lawful permanent resident status at a State Department consular post abroad—not individuals already in the United States and seeking a green card from DHS through “adjustment of status.”
- It would not apply to the children of U.S. citizens, but it would apparently apply to the spouses of U.S. citizens and the immediate family members of lawful permanent residents.
- It would also apply to the parents of U.S. citizens who cannot “demonstrate to the satisfaction of the consular officer that the alien’s healthcare will not impose a substantial burden on the United States healthcare system.”
To read the actual proclamation, please click below:
Presidential Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry of Immigrants Who Will Financially Burden the United States Healthcare System
“This new immigration ban is based on the same legal authorities as the prior travel ban from primarily Muslim-majority countries, as well as the asylum ban,” Rand said in an email. “It is different from the DHS public charge rule, scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 15, as well as the State Department’s public charge policy, which has been in effect since January 2018. See this public charge explainer for more details.”
If implemented, this immigration ban would apply to most of the family-based immigrants in the second column below. (Source here.)
