EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Warns Migrant Sponsors To Pay Their Tab Or Face Consequences

The Trump administration is warning migrant sponsors to take financial responsibility for them or expect to be slapped with steep fines, lawsuits, or even prosecution.

American citizens who sponsor migrants that end up using taxpayer-funded benefits like food stamps or housing assistance will be held financially liable and could even face criminal charges, according to a U.S. Citizenship and 🛂Immigration Services (USCIS) memo obtained by the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. The announcement, which is intended for all migrant sponsors across the country, marks the latest policy crackdown by the Trump administration.

“It is crucial for sponsors and aliens to meet their fiscal obligations and not push financial burdens onto the American people,” USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement provided to the DCNF.

“American taxpayers should not be on the hook to subsidize aliens when their financial sponsors have promised to do so,” Tragesser continued.

Most family-based immigrants are required to be sponsored by a citizen or lawful permanent resident when applying for a green card, according to USCIS.  A sponsor agrees to take financial responsibility for them, ensuring that foreign nationals seeking resident status in the U.S. have adequate means of support and will not become dependent on public benefits.

If a migrant receives means-tested public benefits —  public benefits funded by the federal or state government, such as welfare or cash assistance — while under support of their sponsor, the agency that provided that benefit can request the sponsor to pay back the cost, according to USCIS. If the cost is not repaid, that agency is permitted to sue the sponsor for repayment, legal fees, and other associated costs.