On March 9, 2021, DHS issued a litigation statement announcing that it would no longer continue its attempts to enforce the public charge rule. Later in the day, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a follow-up statement announcing that DHS had withdrawn from all public charge related litigation. The DHS has dismissed the appeals that were pending in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Seventh Circuit and was in the process of dismissing the appeal pending in the Federal Fourth Circuit. As a result of the dismissal of the Seventh Circuit appeal, the final judgment vacating the public charge rule went into effect. This action is in line with President Biden's Executive Order 14012, directing DHS to review the public charge rule. This means that effective immediately, the I-944 is no longer required. At this point, we would recommend waiting to file any adjustment of status until USCIS formally announces that the I-944 is no longer necessary. The DHS announcement can be found here.
