Giving Compass' Take:

· Chris Sommerfeldt discusses the Trump administration's plans to limit access to U.S. citizenship for immigrants who have ever relied on public welfare programs.

· How would this change in immigration policy affect immigrants living in the U.S. who rely on public welfare services?

· Read more about immigration and DREAMERs' struggles to obtain U.S. citizenship.


Immigration lawyers and advocates saw red amid reports that the Trump administration plans to make it all but impossible for legal immigrants to become citizens if they have ever relied on public welfare programs such as the Affordable Care Act.

The overhaul is part of senior White House adviser Stephen Miller's broader plan to reduce the number of immigrants who obtain legal status, multiple people familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The move is still in the planning stages, but the sources said its enactment would make it much more difficult for immigrants to become citizens if they or their family members have ever used Obamacare, the Children's Health Insurance Program, food stamps and other public benefits.

Critics blasted the planned policy shift as politically motivated and racially charged.

"This will be yet another dangerous, desperate and cynical strategy aimed at kicking immigrants out of America and keeping Republicans in power," said Frank Sherry, executive director of immigration advocacy group America's Voice. "They do so to cynically divide Americans in hopes of mobilizing disaffected white voters and blaming stagnant wages, rising health care costs, defunded schools and threats to Social Security and Medicare on 'the other.'"

Read the full article about limiting U.S. citizenship access by Chris Sommerfeldt at Governing Magazine.