Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Attorney General Letitia James filed separate lawsuits Monday targeting Trump’s expanded public charge rule.
The rule takes effect September 18 and gives immigration officers broader authority to deny green cards to applicants likely to depend on government benefits.
And New York City’s socialist Mayor and indicted Attorney General just sued Donald Trump over keeping welfare as a path to a green card.
This Is Not a New Fight – It’s a Rematch Trump Already Won
The public charge rule has been federal law since 1882.
For most of American history, it meant what it sounds like: if you planned to live off the government, you couldn’t become a permanent resident.
In 1999, the Clinton administration weakened the standard dramatically, limiting it to immigrants who were “primarily dependent” on cash welfare or institutionalized care.
Trump’s first administration fixed that in 2019 – expanding the rule to include SNAP food stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing vouchers.
James sued then too.
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She won a temporary injunction during COVID-19 and celebrated the victory publicly.
Then Biden took office, killed the rule entirely, and James declared permanent victory.
She was wrong.
Trump came back, and the rule came back with him – this time broader, with DHS officers now able to consider benefits used by applicants’ family members, including U.S. citizen children.
James told reporters her office “fought this exact policy once before and won.”
What she didn’t mention is that Trump won the election after that, twice.
Mamdani’s Numbers Don’t Hold Up
Mamdani claimed at a press conference Monday that up to 4 million people could be “forced to unenroll” from their healthcare under the new rule.
That number has no basis in the DHS’s own analysis.
DHS estimated that roughly 950,000 people may disenroll from six benefit programs – which is already overstated, since the rule doesn’t prohibit anyone from receiving benefits.
It prohibits non-citizens from using those benefits and then demanding a green card.
That is a distinction Mamdani chose not to make.
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Mamdani is New York City’s first socialist mayor – sworn into office January 1, 2026, after winning a November election in which New York chose a man who has openly called for seizing the “means of production.”
He attended the 9/11 anniversary memorial this month over the objections of more than 110,000 victims’ family members who signed a petition calling his record “hostile” and demanding he stay away.
His partner in this lawsuit – Letitia James – was indicted last year on federal bank fraud charges after prosecutors alleged she falsified mortgage documents to obtain more favorable loan terms on a Virginia property.
The woman lecturing Trump about rule of law is currently fighting fraud charges in federal court.
What Trump’s Rule Actually Does
The rule does not deport anyone.
It does not cut benefits for anyone.
It does not apply to citizens, asylees, or refugees.
It simply restores a common-sense standard: if you are applying to permanently live in the United States, immigration officers can consider whether you – or the family members you’d be bringing with you – are already dependent on American taxpayers.
SNAP, non-emergency Medicaid, public housing, and Section 8 vouchers will all be relevant factors under the new rule.
The Heritage Foundation called it exactly right: this rule “reaffirms the essential American value of self-reliance through hard work” and “protects U.S. taxpayers by ensuring that new immigrants will not add even more spending on top of welfare and entitlement programs that are already unsustainably driving American debt higher.”
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James leads a coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia asking a federal court in New York to block the rule.
Mamdani separately pulled together Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County, and King County, Washington to join his challenge.
Look at that list again.
Every city and state trying to stop this rule has already decided American taxpayers exist to subsidize other countries’ citizens.
Trump keeps winning this fight at the ballot box.
The same coalition keeps losing there – and running to a judge in New York to undo what voters decided.
The rule takes effect in four days.
Sources:
- Anders Hagstrom, “Mamdani, Letitia James sue to block Trump admin from refusing immigrants over welfare status,” Fox News, September 14, 2026.
- Department of Homeland Security, Final Public Charge Rule, Federal Register, July 20, 2026.
- Lora Ries, “Immigration Self-Reliance Rule Begins – Ignore Scare Tactics, Here’s What It Really Means,” The Daily Signal / Heritage Foundation, February 25, 2020.
- Hans von Spakovsky and David Inserra, “Enforcing ‘Public Charge’ Rule in Immigration Is Common Sense,” Heritage Foundation, August 23, 2019.
- “The Public Charge Rule Is Changing Again: What Green Card Applicants Should Know Before September 18, 2026,” MMHPC Immigration Law Group, 2026.
- “Attorney General James Stops Trump Administration from Continuing to Implement Public Charge Rule,” New York Attorney General Press Release, 2020.
