GOP-led states lose bid to challenge immigration rule by The Associated Press Last Updated Apr 9, 2021 at 12:58 am EDT SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court in California refused Thursday to permit 14 states led by Republican governors to challenge the overturning of a Trump-era immigration rule affecting hundreds of thousands of people. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against permitting intervention by the states, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. At issue was the so-called public charge rule that allowed the government to deny permanent-residency green cards to immigrants who used public benefits, ranging from welfare and Social Security to food stamps or low-income housing vouchers. The administration said the rule would cover 382,000 of 544,000 legal immigrants who applied for green cards each year, who would have to prove they could support themselves.