On December 19, 2025, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) submitted a public comment supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), titled Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility. The NPRM was published in the Federal Register on November 19, 2025, and proposes to repeal the Biden administration’s 2022 public charge regulation. (Download a pdf of CIS’s comment below.)
In our comment, CIS supported DHS’s proposal to repeal the overly restrictive regulations that prohibited immigration officers from considering all relevant information when making a public charge determination under section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (whether an alien is “likely at any time to become a public charge). These regulations, in addition to other flaws, limited an immigration officer’s analysis and prohibited officers from considering receipt of any non-cash benefits (excluding long term institutionalization at government expense) when determining whether an alien was subject to the public charge inadmissibility ground.
CIS, however, recommended that DHS replace the restrictive regulatory provisions with provisions that expressly authorize immigration officers to engage in a “totality of the circumstances” analysis; expressly authorize immigration officers to consider an alien’s receipt of public benefits when making a public charge determination (including receipt by the alien’s dependents); define public benefits, for purposes of the public charge inadmissibility ground, as means-tested anti-poverty benefits administered by federal, state, or local governments; require immigration officers to apply greater weight to an alien’s education level and income when analyzing an aliens likelihood to become a public charge; and amend its National Environmental Policy Act procedures to strengthen rules are not expected to increase immigration levels.
Moreover, CIS recommended that DHS repeal 8 C.F.R.§ 212.22(a)(2), which requires immigration officers to consider receipt of an Affidavit of Support under INA § 213A favorably in a public charge determination and repeal 8 C.F.R. § 212.22(d), which prohibits immigration officers from considering receipt of public benefits by an alien when that alien was in an immigration category that is exempt from the public charge ground of inadmissibility.
CIS believes that adopting these recommendations would provide needed clarity for both the public and adjudicators, reinforce consistency across public charge determinations, and ensure that DHS fulfills its statutory duty in a manner that aligns with longstanding congressional intent.