On December 5, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) motion for a stay of the preliminary injunctions granted by the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of California and Eastern District of Washington with respect to a challenge to the Trump administration’s public charge inadmissibility determinations rule. On December 9, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted DHS’s motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

DHS remains bound by a nationwide injunction issued in a case pending before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and an injunction limited to the state of Illinois pending before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Related litigation continues before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Seventh Circuits.

The final rule being challenged, issued in August 2019, prescribes how DHS would determine whether a person is inadmissible to the United States based on his or her likelihood of becoming a public charge at any time in the future.

Details: USCIS announcement, https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/judicial-victories-public-charge-cases-give-trump-admin-confidence-implementation-long-standing-law