The United States has a longstanding principle that immigrants should be able to meet their financial needs without assistance from public resources.

It has used public charge laws to exclude such immigrants since the colony days in the 1600s. This was reinforced more recently when Congress enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1952, and later by the enactment in 1996 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

The current version of the public charge laws reads as follows: “Any alien who … at the time of application for a visa, or at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible.” An exception is made for aliens with sponsors who have signed a legally enforceable affidavit agreeing to support them.

But the public charge laws haven’t always been enforced. The previous administration, for instance, promulgated a regulation that made it easier for aliens to avoid being denied admission.

Homelessness is a major problem in the United States that continues to grow despite the billions of dollars spent to address it. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s report on the “State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition,” homeless service providers did not have enough shelter space in 2024.

The government shouldn’t be facilitating the entry of immigrants who are likely to increase the homeless population in the United States. It makes the problem of homelessness worse, and it isn’t doing any favors to immigrants who end up being poor and unhoused in the United States.

Read more at

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigrat...ration-crisis/

Published originally on the Hill.
Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.