If immigrants can't be self-sufficient, they 'won't pass this test': US immigration chief explains public charge rule to Levin

Monday night on the radio, LevinTV host Mark Levin was joined by U.S. Customs and Immigration Services acting director Ken Cuccinelli to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to cut down on migrants who might pose a financial burden to the American taxpayer.

Earlier that day, Cuccinelli's agency announced an updated version of the government's "public charge" rule, meant to screen out immigrants who may be dependent on government welfare.

While the Trump administration has already been cracking down on potential immigrant welfare recipients, the updated version of the rule rolled out Monday morning will incorporate more types of public benefits that will be considered in the process and is an effort to “better ensure” that legal immigrants to the United States are “self-sufficient,” per a DHS press release.

"Self-sufficiency is central to American history. It's part of our core being as individual Americans, is pulling yourself up by your bootstraps," Cuccinelli told Levin on the radio. "And if you're not an immigrant who can do that, then you won't pass this test."

Cuccinelli explained that the rule itself is nothing new, since it is merely the implementation of bipartisan legislation passed in 1996 and has historical roots going back to the 1800s.

"We're changing no law. None," Cuccinelli said. What the new guidance does do, however, is "put meat on the bones" of the 1996 law, which has been the subject of "fairly weak" Clinton-era guidance on the law that "really didn't do much" up to now.

"It's just common sense, isn't it, folks?" Levin remarked of the updated regulation after the interview.

The host also pointed out that it's completely fair and appropriate to look to past generations of immigrants as a standard for comparison. "For those of you who are grandchildren of immigrants ... they never came here looking for one damn piece of anything from the government, and there wasn't anything to give."

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