New Delhi, July 16 -- WASHINGTON - For roughly 950,000 people living in immigrant households across the United States, the question after Thursday is no longer simply whether they qualify for Medicaid or federal food assistance. It is whether using those benefits will now count against them in a green card application, a prospect that immigration advocates say will push low-income families away from health coverage and nutrition support they legally receive, regardless of whether they have any pending immigration case.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that it is rescinding a 2022 Biden administration regulation that had narrowed the scope of the so-called public charge test, a longstanding legal standard that allows...