Trump signs memorandum requiring immigrant sponsors to pay for social services

President Trump is signed a memorandum Thursday that will enforce a 23-year-old provision requiring sponsors of legal immigrants in the U.S. to reimburse the government for any social services such as Medicaid or welfare used by the immigrant, Fox News has learned. The provision was part of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) and Welfare Reform laws that were signed by then-President Bill Clinton, but despite being enshrined in federal law, the rule has not been enforced. Under the provision, each future sponsor of an immigrant would need to sign an affidavit that would spell out the financial responsibilities for the sponsored immigrant and create a collection mechanism to recover funds from the sponsor. The Department of Health and Human Services is to collect the data of the sponsors and the immigrants, while the Treasury Department would collect the funds. The move – part of the president’s push for a merit-based immigration system – is meant to make the person sponsoring the immigrant responsible for any medical or financial benefits the immigrant receives. The proposal would judge immigrants with a points-based system that would favor high-skilled workers -- accounting for age, English proficiency, education and whether the applicant has a well-paying job offer. Currently, only about 12 percent of immigrants are admitted based on employment and skills, while 66 percent are admitted based on family connections inside the U.S., officials have said. Administration officials estimated that those numbers would flip to 57 and 33 percent, respectively, under the Trump plan...MORE