Texas v. Mayorkas (TX Public Charge) - Court of Appeals

[ARCHIVED-September 2025] 

This is an appeal of a September 2024 decision by a district court dismissing Texas’s challenge to a DHS regulation finalized two years earlier that defines when immigrants can be denied a visa or green card because they are likely to become a “public charge.” U.S. immigration law has had a “public charge” provision since 1882–the same year (and for similar reasons) that Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act–but Congress has never defined the term. The federal agencies responsible for enforcing immigration law (like DHS), however, have long defined it as applying only to those likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence (like those in the historical poorhouses). In 2019, however, DHS under President Trump issued a regulation to dramatically (and cruelly) expand that interpretation. The regulation challenged in this case repeals the Trump-era regulation and adopts in its place the historical understanding of “public charge.”  Texas alleges that the challenged regulation conflicts with immigration law and was adopted without going through required procedures.

The district court held that Texas lacks standing to challenge the regulation because they could not provide evidence that it injures the state in any way.  

After Texas filed its opening brief on February 20, 2025, the Fifth Circuit granted its motion to stay this appeal for at least 90 days given the likelihood that the Trump Administration will take action that moots this case. The Fifth Circuit subsequently extended the stay multiple times.