The Trump Administration Is Helping Ensure That the Definition of Public Charge Encourages Work, Not Welfare
Key Findings
- For more than a century, the United States has sought to ensure that new immigrants would not become trapped in a life of dependency on the government.
- Federal law blocks the entry of individuals deemed likely to become a public charge, dependent on taxpayer-provided benefits, at any point.
- Despite this, immigrants can access more than 30 taxpayer-funded welfare programs without being deemed a public charge.
- The Trump administration has proposed a fix to this, one that would save taxpayers an estimated $9 billion annually.
Overview
The United States has a long history of aiming to prevent new immigrants from becoming reliant on the federal government for support. Federal law provides that a person who is likely at any time to become a “public charge”—e.g., dependent on government handouts—may be deemed inadmissible.1 It is also the policy of the country that public benefits should not incentivize immigration.2
However, which welfare programs are included in determining whether someone is considered a public charge has largely been poorly defined. This has allowed immigrants to get trapped in a cycle of dependency before they even become citizens.
President Trump and Congress have prioritized work over welfare as the way to escape dependency.3-4 With immigrants contributing to the unsustainable growth of welfare programs, there is a great opportunity to refine when an alien should be deemed inadmissible as a public charge.
The Trump administration has already taken multiple steps to help ensure that welfare costs for immigrants do not strain taxpayer-funded programs. Within his first 100 days, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at ensuring that taxpayer money does not act as a magnet, drawing increasing numbers of immigrants.5 The administration also proposed a public charge rule that would address harmful actions taken by the Biden administration, with the promise of further agency action on the topic.6
In regard to the further agency action, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should consider all welfare programs, especially expensive programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and public housing, when considering the likelihood of an alien becoming a public charge. This approach prioritizes work over welfare. This would not only save taxpayers billions of dollars but would also lead to better outcomes for those seeking citizenship.
The Biden administration allowed immigrants to access more than 30 different taxpayer-funded programs without becoming a public charge
For more than a century, it has been the policy of the United States to prevent immigrant use of welfare programs from becoming a burden on taxpayers. The Immigration Act of 1882 blocked the entry of persons who are likely to become a public charge.7
However, for much of the history of public charge, it has not been defined by Congress or through rulemaking.8 But Congress made clear through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that aliens should not depend on public resources to meet their needs.9
At the end of the Clinton administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service released field guidance on which immigrants can be deemed inadmissible, ineligible for status adjustment, or deportable based on public charge grounds.10 The field guidance took an extremely narrow view of public charge, limiting it to those likely to receive cash assistance or long-term institutionalization.11
The first Trump administration rectified this by finalizing a rule that brought public charge more in line with reality. The rule defined public charge as an alien receiving one or more public benefits for more than 12 months in aggregate within any 36-month period.12 It also included in public benefits programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing—not just cash assistance and long-term institutionalization.13
The Biden administration reversed this commonsense rule.14 It took the public charge definition back to the Clinton administration’s field guidance, thus treating immigrants who receive expensive taxpayer-funded health, food, and housing benefits as if they are not public charges.
In fact, the Biden administration’s definition of public charge allows immigrants to receive benefits from more than 30 different taxpayer-funded programs without being deemed a public charge.15 This narrow definition ignores more than 90 percent of non-citizen households on welfare.16 This goes against Congress’s intent to prevent public charges from gaining citizenship, and that aliens not depend on welfare to meet their needs.
This backtracking is even more troublesome considering the out-of-control spending on welfare programs.
Welfare spending is skyrocketing
Taxpayers are footing the bill for ever-growing welfare programs. The federal government now spends roughly $1.2 trillion per year on welfare programs.17 That equates to more than $7,200 per working American.18 Bloated programs like Medicaid and food stamps, the two largest federal welfare programs, have exploded in costs in recent years.
Total spending on Medicaid has increased from $206 billion in 2000 to $964 billion in 2024, a nearly fivefold increase.19 Federal taxpayers have borne the brunt of the rising Medicaid spending, with federal dollars covering nearly 80 percent of the increase over the last 10 years.20
Food stamp spending increased even more dramatically from 2000 to 2025, increasing from $17 billion to $110 billion.21-22 ObamaCare subsidies have skyrocketed since 2015, increasing from $27 billion to $123 billion.23 Finally, the cost of federal housing assistance increased by 53 percent over the last decade.24-25
All of this increased welfare spending comes at a time when the Biden administration ran deficits totaling $7.6 trillion over four years, pushing the national debt to more than $36 trillion.26-27
Immigrant non-citizens have contributed disproportionately to the growth in welfare spending and accompanying deficits and debt. 28
For instance, nearly one-third of households with non-citizens have someone on Medicaid, nearly twice the rate of citizen-only households.29 From 2016 to 2024, Medicaid covered nearly half of all foreign-born mothers giving birth in the country.30 For immigrants from some countries, this figure is even higher. For example, eight in 10 births to Somalia-born immigrants were paid for by Medicaid.31
But it is not just Medicaid. Households with non-citizens are nearly twice as likely to use food stamps, WIC, or government-subsidized meals, and nearly three times as likely to receive refundable tax credits than citizen-only households.32-33
In total, 55 percent of households with non-citizens receive some form of welfare, versus one-third of citizen-only households.34 Nearly two-thirds of these non-citizen households on welfare receive benefits from multiple programs.35
Thankfully, the solution to these issues was already put in place previously by the first Trump administration, and the current administration is already working to fix it again.36
The definition of public charge should include all welfare programs
In 2019, the Trump administration wisely finalized a rule that defined public charge and public benefits to include large welfare programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing.37 The Biden administration rescinded this rule and replaced it with an extremely narrow view of public charge.38
The Trump administration has started the process to do likewise, proposing a rule to rescind the Biden administration’s misguided action.39 If finalized, this rule is estimated to save taxpayers $9 billion annually.40 The proposed rule also promised further agency action on the matter, and DHS should take the opportunity to ensure that immigrants do not get caught in the trap of dependency.
DHS should ensure that all major welfare programs, including cash welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing, are counted as benefits for public charge determinations. DHS should also define public benefits for public charge determinations to cover refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, and ObamaCare’s premium tax credit.
This definition would fit better with congressional intent and bring welfare program spending under better control. This would also help reduce budget deficits and slow the growth of the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that suspending the Trump administration’s 2019 rule would cost taxpayers $27 billion over a 10-year budget window.41
This would also align with a previous executive order from President Trump, which viewed the best way to promote opportunity and economic mobility was by reducing government dependency and creating a spirit of work.42
Encouraging work over welfare would set new citizens up on a path toward success
When work has been prioritized over welfare at the state level, able-bodied adults have left welfare programs in record numbers and returned to work in more than 1,000 industries.43-48 Individuals leaving welfare for work doubled their incomes within a year and tripled it within two years, with the higher wages more than offsetting any lost welfare benefits.49-52
When Tennessee moved 170,000 able-bodied adults off Medicaid, it experienced an increase in labor force participation, job searches, employment, and private health insurance coverage.53 Likewise, when Arkansas implemented work requirements for a small number of able-bodied adults in its Medicaid program, nearly 18,000 eventually left the program due to higher incomes in just the few short months the requirement was in effect.54
These increased incomes from greater encouragement to work would set immigrants up for a more fulfilling and successful life in the United States.
The Bottom Line:
Counting all welfare programs when determining an immigrant’s likelihood of becoming a public charge will prioritize work over welfare and save taxpayers billions. The Trump administration should continue its work to make this approach a reality.
The first Trump administration got it right when it extended public charge determinations to cover programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing.
Programs like these and others cost federal taxpayers roughly $1.2 trillion every year.55 With households with non-citizens using welfare programs at a higher rate than citizen-only households, updating how public charge determinations are made is a great opportunity to reduce dependency and promote self-sufficiency.
The Trump administration has already taken the first steps in rectifying this error. Continuing this work by making public charge determinations account for all welfare programs, not just cash assistance and institutionalization, would reduce welfare spending and save taxpayers billions. This definition would also encourage work rather than taxpayer-funded welfare.
