Santa Clara County Attorney James R. Williams and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Thursday that they have voluntarily dropped their lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, saying it no longer exists and cannot be resurrected.
It was during 2019 that Santa Clara County and the City and County of San Francisco filed the first lawsuit in the nation to block the Trump-era rule, which would have instituted a wealth test for immigrants entering the United States or going through the naturalization process, and which at the same time instilled fear in immigrant communities that discouraged them from participating in civic life or public benefit programs.
The action marks the successful conclusion of a four-year legal battle in which Santa Clara County and San Francisco blocked the Trump administration's public charge rule.
Since Santa Clara County and San Francisco filed their lawsuit in 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favor by blocking the rule from going into effect.
The Biden administration rescinded the rule when it took office; the U.S. Supreme Court denied an Arizona-led coalition’s attempt to uphold the rule; and, in separate but similar litigation, the Supreme Court declined to review a Seventh Circuit decision blocking the rule from taking effect nationwide.
“We were the first to stand up in court and say that the Trump Administration’s public charge rule was not only deeply harmful to our immigrant communities, it was also flat-out unlawful. And we have been vindicated at every step,” said Santa Clara County Attorney James R. Williams.
He also said that they will continue to focus their attention and resources on protecting residents from racist and xenophobic attacks.
“We are and will always be committed to advancing health, well-being, dignity and equity in all of our communities, including our immigrant communities. Government at all levels must support and protect families, not marginalize or villainize them,” she stressed.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said that “immigrant communities can rest assured that the public charge rule has been defeated in court and rescinded by the Biden Administration.”
“No one should be afraid to seek the assistance and programs they need. In San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and across California, we will continue to honor our legacy of welcoming immigrants of all backgrounds and fight any attempt to institute a wealth test for citizenship,” Chiu said. “We took this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, and I’m thrilled to say we won.”
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a “Public Charge Inadmissibility” rule in 2019 that would have upended nearly 140 years of legal precedent.
The Trump administration sought to radically expand the grounds on which a person could be deemed a “public charge” and thus denied a green card or entry into the United States. By design, the rule would have forced people to forego or withdraw from critical public benefits and care.
Santa Clara County and the city and county of San Francisco jointly filed the first case in the nation challenging the Trump-era rule.
The counties were later joined by several coalitions that also challenged the rule, including groups led by the states of California, Washington and New York; Cook County, Illinois; Baltimore, Maryland; the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; and Make the Road New York.
In October 2019, Santa Clara County and San Francisco obtained a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration from implementing its rule. Courts across the country, including the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth, Seventh, and Second Circuits, unanimously agreed that the Trump-era rule was unlawful and barred its implementation.
Notably, the Supreme Court was asked on three separate occasions to reconsider these legal victories, and each time the Court left them in place.
The Trump administration sought review of the Ninth Circuit's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, but in March 2021 the Biden administration's Justice Department dropped the case and announced that the administration would not implement Trump's rule.
The Supreme Court then considered whether a coalition of states led by Arizona should have been allowed to intervene to defend the Trump-era government after President Biden was inaugurated.
But in June 2022, Santa Clara County, San Francisco, and states led by California and Washington persuaded the Supreme Court to dismiss their writ of certiorari as having been granted without prevision, again leaving the Ninth Circuit’s decision intact.
Ultimately, while Santa Clara County, San Francisco, and the other plaintiffs prevailed in court, the Biden Administration removed the Trump-era rule from the Code of Federal Regulations and adopted a new public charge rule that complies with federal immigration law and the counties.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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