Secretary of State Marco Rubioย instructed visa officersย to consider obesity and other chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, as justification to deny people visas to the United States. The guidanceโalong with direction that visa officers can reject visa applications for people beyond retirement age and if their dependents are elderly or disabledโis part of aย โpublic chargeโ ruleย that allows the government to deny visas and green cards if the person might use social welfare programs or be institutionalized.ย
Many were outraged and shocked, observing the Trump administrationโs new expansion of the โpublic chargeโ rule … as a modern revival of eugenic immigration policy designed to exclude, control and institutionalize disabled and marginalized people.
The order hasย been criticizedย by doctors and activists at the National Disability Rights Network, the National Health Law Program, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, as well as others who argue that institutionalization … is now being used to involuntarily commit homeless individuals in order to โclean upโ public spaces.ย
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