The new rules would redefine "public charge" as someone who is "more likely than not" to receive public benefits for more than 12 months within a 36-month period. (Photo: iStock)

The Trump administration's quest to deny green cards to immigrants in need of public assistance, including Medicaid, food stamps and other government benefits, was temporarily denied by judges in three states on Friday.

According to the Associated Press, the new rules were set to go into effect on October 15, but  have been delayed following decisions by U.S. District Judge George Daniels in New York, ruling on a lawsuit brought by New York, Connecticut and Vermont; U.S. District Judge Rosanna Molouf Peterson in Spokane, Washington, ruling on a suit brought by that state and 13 others; and U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, ruling on a suit by California, Maine, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Related: Immigration policy could have big impact on health care

Existing rules—in use since 1999—define "public charge" as a person who depends primarily on some form of government support, including cash assistance or income maintenance.

The new rules would redefine "public charge" as someone who is "more likely than not" to receive public benefits for more than 12 months within a 36-month period. If a person were to receive two benefits, that would count as two months, and the benefit definition would be increased to include not just Medicaid but also housing assistance and food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

An average of 544,000 people apply each year for green cards, but the proposed and far more stringent Trump rules would have subjected some 382,000 to the new review.

According to AP, the administration claims the changes would make sure that new legal residents would be self-sufficient; however, critics of the new rules call them discriminatory, with the end result of excluding immigrants with lower incomes from the country while welcoming wealthier immigrants. It adds that many "consider it a betrayal of Emma Lazarus' words on the Statue of Liberty, 'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'"

Read more: 

• Leave health insurers out of immigrant eligibility, AHIP says
• Fewer taxpayers claim ACA subsidy, but those who do claimed more
• Caregivers (and patients) on the losing end of Trump immigration policy