Top officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs declined
to step in to try to exempt veterans and their families from a new immigration
rule that would make it far easier to deny green cards to low-income
immigrants, according to documents obtained by ProPublica under a Freedom of
Information Act request.
The Department of Defense, on the other hand, worked
throughout 2018 to minimize the new policy’s impact on military families.
As a result, the regulation, which goes into effect in
October, applies just as strictly to veterans and their families as it does to
the broader public, while active-duty members of the military and reserve
forces face a relaxed version of the rule.
Under the so-called public charge regulation, which became
final last week, immigrants seeking permanent legal status in the U.S. will be
subject to a complex new test to determine if they will rely on public
benefits. Among the factors that immigration officers will consider are whether
the applicant has frequently used public benefits in the past, their household
income, education level and credit scores.
Active-duty military members can accept public benefits
without jeopardizing their future immigration status; veterans and their
families, however, cannot
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