On Monday, Jan. 27, the Supreme Court gave way to President Donald Trump’s new “wealth test.” Supreme Court Justices gave way to this test on a 5-4 vote and granted the Trump administration’s request to lift an injunction imposed which blocked this policy. According to The Washington Post, it will deny permanent-resident status to legal immigrants, which can cause a burden on society because they have received public assistance in the past or will need help in the future, such as Medicaid or Social Security income. This wealth test will ease the path for the government to deny immigrants residency or admission into the United States due to their lack of resources and wealth. The new order will place a burden on poor immigrants and their families because they will be discriminated based on their socioeconomic status. Many of the immigrants who come to the United States do so in search of opportunity, a better way of life, a place to grow with their families away from persecution and poverty. Trump’s policy will rebuff these people’s hopes of a new life based wholly on their need for assistance.
As stated in the Star-Spangled Banner, America is the “land of the free,” a place where people can grow and live the American dream, a place full of opportunity and open doors. Through the passing of this new order by President Trump’s administration, a substantial amount of immigrants will be refused opportunities, and their dreams will be shot down, solely on the fact that they are not “rich” enough.
Many immigrants make their way to America with nothing, but they create something out of nothing, they seize opportunities granted to them and generate wealth, they succeed. With this new rule passed, those immigrants will not be able to receive certain benefits such as medical aid simply because they do not have as much as other people do.
Punishing immigrants who need financial assistance will not only affect them but also the residents of the country in general. The new rule will potentially impose millions of dollars in emergency health-care and other costs onto local and state governments, businesses, hospitals, and food banks.
President Donald Trump established this regulation on the credence that he would be making America great again. America is based on freedom and opportunity, and by judging human beings based on their bank account size, rather than on their character as people, the President of the United States, the home of the free and the brave, abolishes what America is. He takes the opportunities and assistance away from those who need them the most. The belief of what America is supposed to be for those who come here will no longer be.
