Pictured: Kirstjen Nielsen, a bad person.
Pictured: Kirstjen Nielsen, a bad person. ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES

A group of Oregon lawmakers is fighting back against a proposed federal policy that would allow the Trump Administration to deny immigrants permanent residency if they’re poor.

In October, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed rule change that would affect how the agency enforces the Immigration and Nationality Act. The law states that immigrants seeking entry or a visa “must establish that they are not likely at any time to become a public charge.” In this context, “public charge” means someone who accesses supplemental social security, disability aid, food stamps, or any other public funds meant to help low-income Americans.

Under Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, DHS is proposing that the government begin “predicting” whether immigrants applying for entry or a change in status might someday become a “public charge,” and deny them on those grounds. The new rule would also expand the definition of “public charge” to include people who access Medicaid, and food and housing assistance programs.

According to the Center for American Progress, 900,000 immigrants and 176 million nonimmigrants (people with visas for temporary stays) would be affected by this proposed rule change.

A group of national lawmakers from Oregon sent a letter to Nielsen today urging her not to go through with the rule change, for which the 60-day public comment period ends today.

“The proposed rule is a transparent attempt to reduce legal immigration by complicating the process for those who decide to immigrate legally to the United States,” the letter reads.

The letter was signed by Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader. Representative Greg Walden, the only Oregon Republican in Congress, did not sign it.

The lawmakers warn that because the proposed rule change would affect people seeking a renewed visa or change in status, it could discourage many already living in the US from accessing crucial social services, leading to “worse health outcomes, malnutrition and higher levels of food instability, increased use of emergency rooms, increased prevalence of communicable diseases, increased rates of poverty and housing instability, and reduced productivity.”