Sponsors (2)
Creates a bright‑line public‑charge test: receiving listed public benefits >12 months in any 36‑month period makes an immigrant inadmissible, with new bond and affidavit requirements.
Official title: Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the definitions of "public charge" and "likely at any time to become a public charge," to establish requirements for affidavits of support and public charge bonds, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 8, 2026 by Roger Wayne Marshall · Last progress January 8, 2026
The bill trades greater clarity and a single, stricter public‑charge standard intended to reduce future public benefit use and taxpayer exposure against substantial harms to low‑income immigrants and families — including higher denial risk, sponsor costs, chilling of benefit use (with health consequences), administrative burdens, and reduced flexibility for humanitarian exceptions.
Immigrants, consular officers, and DHS/USCIS get a clearer, single public‑charge standard applied across agencies, making decisions more predictable and reducing interagency disagreement.
Sponsors are required to show stronger financial support (including a 125% FPL threshold and weight on affidavits), which increases sponsor accountability and is likely to reduce future reliance of sponsored immigrants on means‑tested public benefits, lowering potential taxpayer costs.
Low‑risk immigrants with stable income or who avoid specified benefits are less likely to be denied admission or adjustment under the clarified rule, improving predictability for those applicants.
Low‑income immigrants, families, and many legal applicants face higher risk of inadmissibility or denial because receipt (or likely receipt) of a broad set of benefits can count against them, making legal immigration harder and potentially causing economic hardship.
The rule is likely to chill enrollment in public programs (e.g., Medicaid, SNAP, housing) — including for eligible children and pregnant people — creating serious health and safety harms from foregone care.
Sponsors face substantially higher financial burdens and risks (stricter affidavit proof, higher income requirements, and forfeitable public‑charge bonds of at least $10,000 for 10 years), increasing costs for households and potential liabilities for sponsors.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Replaces the existing, discretionary public‑charge test with a bright‑line, benefits‑based rule: an immigrant is inadmissible if they receive one or more specified public benefits for more than 12 months in the aggregate during any 36‑month period after admission or adjustment. The bill defines a list of "public benefits" (cash assistance, SNAP, most housing assistance, most Medicaid, ACA premium subsidies, SSI, TANF, and future monetizable programs), requires USCIS to publish and update a benefits list, tightens how affidavits of support are treated, creates minimum $10,000 public‑charge bonds forfeitable over 10 years, preserves limited exemptions (refugees, asylees, servicemembers/dependents), and takes effect 180 days after enactment for pending and new applications.