The Trump administration is considering reversing long-standing policy to make it easier to deport U.S. legal permanent residents who have used public benefits, part of an effort to restrict immigration by low-income people.
A Department of Justice draft regulation, seen by Reuters, dramatically expands the category of people who could be subject to deportation on the grounds that they use benefits.
Currently, those legal permanent residents who are declared to be a "public charge," or primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, can be deported — but in practice, this is very rare.