Ugandan-Born NYC Mayor Sues to Stop Trump From Blocking Welfare-Dependent Green Cards

Ugandan-Born NYC Mayor Sues to Stop Trump From Blocking Welfare-Dependent Green Cards

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, born in Uganda and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, announced Monday that his city is leading a coalition of sanctuary strongholds in a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The target is a new public charge rule set to take effect Friday that would let immigration officers deny green cards to foreigners likely to rely on taxpayer-funded benefits.

The rule expands longstanding law so officials can consider use of SNAP food stamps, Medicaid, housing aid and other means-tested programs, not just cash welfare. Trump officials say it simply restores the principle that immigrants should support themselves instead of becoming a burden on American taxpayers.

Mamdani sees it differently. At a press conference surrounded by supporters, he declared the policy an attack on immigrant families and vowed resistance.

“To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”

He continued: “We are confronting this injustice with the solidarity and action that it demands — New York City is leading a coalition of cities and counties, including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County and King County to sue the federal government for the gross illegality of their new public charge rule and the irreparable damage that it will cause.”

Mamdani also said the rule “seeks to push immigrant families away from the programs that have kept people fed and healthy for decades” and that New Yorkers “will be afraid to see a doctor or ask for help they are legally entitled to.”

A separate lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James and more than 20 other Democrat-led states and D.C. makes similar claims. They argue families will drop out of benefits programs out of fear, costing states federal dollars.

The administration has full legal authority over who is admissible to the United States. Presidents have used public charge standards for generations.

Similar efforts in Trump’s first term faced court fights that later vanished under Biden. This version looks built to survive.

Mamdani’s coalition is doing what sanctuary cities do: fight any attempt to limit the flow of people who may need public support.

American workers already fund these programs. The new rule simply asks whether future green card holders will add to that tab or stand on their own.

The lawsuits were filed September 14, 2026, in Manhattan federal court. The rule takes effect September 18.