{"id":17536,"date":"2018-08-24T15:30:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T19:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17536"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:07:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:07:31","slug":"crazy-rich-asians-not-the-only-ones-coming-to-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/08\/24\/crazy-rich-asians-not-the-only-ones-coming-to-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy Rich Asians Not the Only Ones Coming to America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stricter rules to prevent immigrants from landing as \u201cpublic charges\u201d on government assistance could upgrade the financial profile of new arrivals, and lead to more deportations of those who don\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemonstrating income or financial assets over 250 percent of the federal poverty line (about $62,000 for a family of four) would be a heavily weighted positive factor for immigrants seeking permanent residency in the U.S.,\u201d the Migration Policy Institute<\/a> states in a review of yet-to-be-released guidelines.<\/p>\n

Under current rules, only about 3 percent of immigrants are at risk of being classified as public charges. MPI estimates that the new rules could result in nearly half<\/a> of the U.S. noncitizen population falling into that category.<\/p>\n

MPI said the Trump administration may be contemplating changing the standard for when receipt of public benefits can be used as grounds for deportation of legally present noncitizens.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Benefits cited in woman\u2019s ouster from U.S.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Asian immigrants would be especially affected by the proposed higher income thresholds, MPI said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the share of all U.S. immigrants coming from Asia has risen\u00a0in recent years<\/a>, Asians would end up being the most disadvantaged group numerically, with more than 1 million recent legal noncitizens in families with incomes under 250 percent of poverty,\u201d MPI reported.<\/p>\n

Emigrants from just two Asian nations — India and Japan — had large percentages of family incomes at or above 250 percent poverty: India at 75 percent and Japan at 69 percent.<\/p>\n

By contrast, only 36.1 percent of China\/Hong Kong emigrants would have cleared the income threshold. Same for Vietnamese. Just 43.4 percent of arrivals from Korea would have made the cut. Filipinos fared better at 61.2 percent.<\/p>\n

Overall, 52 percent of recent immigrants from Asia fell below the 250 percent benchmark.<\/p>\n

Still, Asians topped their counterparts from Africa and Mexico\/Central America. Sixty-nine percent of African emigrants had incomes under the 250 standard, as did 71 percent of Mexican\/Central Americans.<\/p>\n

While noting that the \u201c250 percent\u201d threshold is not be the only qualifier in the public-charge overhaul, MPI said government adjudicators would have \u201cenormous discretion to deny admission or green cards\u201d to individuals with incomes or financial assets below that line.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIt is not possible to know in advance how the Trump administration would exercise its discretion, (but) it is clear that the approach taken in the draft rule would provide extraordinary latitude that could readily be used both to sharply alter legal immigration flows and to tilt the criteria for admissions and green cards away from family-based admissions and individuals unable to meet the 250 percent threshold,\u201d MPI concluded.