The California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) has condemned “in the strongest possible terms” a newly-issued guidance by the Trump administration instructing consular officers to consider chronic health conditions when determining visa eligibility for Caribbean and other applicants under the public charge rule.
In the new directive, the US Department of State says applicants with medical conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and mental health disorder should be denied visas, claiming that those applicants are more likely to depend on public assistance if admitted to the US.
“If this guidance is allowed to stand, no immigrant applying for a visa or green card will be safe,” HBA Director Guerline Jozef told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“Any illness, no matter how manageable, could become grounds for denial. It is arbitrary, capricious, and fundamentally contrary to the principles of due process, equal protection and human rights.
“Health challenges is not a crime. This policy weaponizes illness against the most vulnerable, punishing those who have already suffered under systems that deny them healthcare and opportunity.
“It sends a chilling message to millions around the world: that your humanity is negotiable, and your worth is measured in dollars and diagnoses. Haitian migrants, like countless others, flee conditions created by global inequality, climate crisis, and failed US foreign policy. To deny them safe passage because of a medical condition is an act of cruelty cloaked in bureaucracy.”
Jozef said this guidance is “not only discriminatory, it’s lawless.
“It violates the spirit of US and international legal obligations, and undermines decades of progress toward fairness in our immigration system,” said Jozef, calling on the Trump administration to rescind and reconsider the directive immediately, “and reaffirm that health is a human right, not a disqualifier for dignity.”
The State Department reportedly dispatched the new directive to embassy and consular officials overseas through an internal cable.
“Certain medical conditions, including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions, can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care.
“Does the applicant have adequate financial resources to cover the costs of such care over his entire expected lifespan without seeking public cash assistance or long-term institutionalization at government expense?” it adds.
State Department principal deputy spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, said in a statement that it is no secret the Trump administration is putting the interests of the American people first.
“This includes enforcing policies that ensure our immigration system is not a burden on the American taxpayer,” he added.
HBA also condemned the Trump administration’s Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026, which caps US refugee admissions for Fiscal Year 2026 at a mere 7,500 people, while explicitly prioritizing White South Africans over refugees from war-torn and climate-ravaged nations across Africa, the Caribbean and the Global South.
“This decision, cloaked in bureaucratic language about ‘national interest’ and ‘security,’ represents a dangerous and racially selective redefinition of humanitarianism,” Jozef said. “For the first time in modern history, the United States has institutionalized a refugee policy that names a white ethnic group for preferential resettlement. while closing the door on Black and Brown people fleeing persecution, dictatorship, and climate collapse.
“Let’s call this what it is, white supremacy disguised as refugee policy. At a time when Black refugees from Haiti, Sudan, the Congo, and Cameroon are drowning at sea, languishing in detention, or being deported to death, the US government has decided to open its arms to those who already enjoy global privilege. This is not just immoral — it’s anti-Blackness codified into federal policy<’ she added.
Jozef said HBA calls on the US Congress, the United Nations, African Union, Organization of American States, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the European Union, faith communities and all human-rights defenders to “condemn this apartheid-era logic embedded in US refugee policy and to demand a reversal of this determination.
“The United States cannot claim moral authority abroad while practicing racial triage at its borders,” Jozef said. (CMC)
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