AOC slams Supreme Court for permitting “public charge” immigration rule

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed a Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, which is aimed at reducing the number of green card applicants who may use public benefits, to take effect.

“This is shameful,” the New York Democrat tweeted Monday. “America shouldn’t have a wealth test for admission. It’s a place where millions of people are descendants of immigrants who came w nothing & made a life. The American Dream isn’t a private club with a cover charge — it’s the possibility of remaking your future.”

This is shameful. America shouldn’t have a wealth test for admission. It’s a place where millions of people are descendants of immigrants who came w nothing & made a life.

The American Dream isn’t a private club with a cover charge – it’s the possibility of remaking your future. https://t.co/qKm7BuUhXI

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 27, 2020

Her tweet came just after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of what some have called a “wealth test,” making it easier to deny legal permanent residency and a path to citizenship to immigrants who receive food stamps, housing vouchers, and Medicaid.

Ocasio-Cortez, 30, has made immigration a top priority of her first term in office, visiting the Mexican border this summer and refusing to back down from her comparison of immigrant detention centers to “concentration camps.”

The freshman Democrat has spent much of the past week in Iowa stumping for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential bid. Her brand of leftist politics has found a warm welcome with younger Democrats, and she has envisioned turning the Congressional Progressive Caucus into a “new kind of centrism” with fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar.