The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the latest effort by a group of Republication that barred certain immigrants applying for government benefits from gaining permanent residency. The justices turned away an appeal by 14 Republican state attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton of Texas, of a lower court ruling against their request to mount a legal defense of Trump’s “public charge” rule after President Joe Biden’s administration stopped defending the measure and later rescinded it. The policy was put into effect by Trump’s administration in February 2020 and ended by Biden’s in March 2021. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights issued the following statement: “Immigrant families should have the right to seek public benefits without fear that the resources they receive will negatively impact their ability to adjust their status in the future. Immigrant access to healthcare and other support is a core tenet of ICIRR’s work. But, back in 2019, the Trump administration sought to change the “public charge” rule, upending 20 years of policy in order to punish people seeking permanent resident status in the United States if they use—or are deemed likely to use in the future—public supports to meet their family’s basic health, housing and nutrition needs. The chilling effect created by this rule effectively denied millions of immigrant families health care, housing and economic support during the pandemic.”