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With the addition of food stamps as a disqualifying factor on applications, advocates worry about disadvantaged immigrants not having access to basic food.

While people in the country illegally cannot enroll in government programs like food stamps, many families with U.S. citizen children could qualify.

The data on how many people opted not to access benefits because of fear of their immigration status is limited. But a nonpartisan policy group Children's HealthWatch found last fall that SNAP enrollment was already down 10% among immigrant families last year.

Experts say the change complicates and strains an already overburdened immigration process.

Green card applicants will be faced with new paperwork and additional legal hurdles to prove they won't need U.S. public services. USCIS officials reviewing applications will also require additional training to calculate those positive and negative traits.

\"It's going to really slow things down,\" said Jeffrey Gorsky, a senior immigration attorney at Berry Appleman & Leiden and former chief legal adviser for visas at the U.S. State Department.

Referencing the Trump administration's attempt to institute a similar policy through the state department, Gorsky said the latest move is another attempt to block immigrants without closing the border.

\"They've slowed things down and I think that's been deliberate,\" he said.

\"PHOTO:
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
PHOTO: Children of mainly Latino immigrant parents hold signs in support of them and those who were picked up during an immigration raid at a food processing plant, during a protest march to the Madison County Courthouse in Canton, Miss., Aug. 11, 2019.
>

The Trump administration will face legal challenges -- again.

Officials in California are expected to sue the administration over the rule shift, saying it wrongfully disqualifies immigrants who meet the legal requirements for citizenship.

\"This vile rule is the Trump Administration's latest attack on families and lower income communities of color,\" California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. \"We will not stand idly by while this Administration targets programs that children and families across our state rely upon.\"

Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to block funding to the Department of Homeland Security over the new rule.

Multiple advocacy groups have also promised to take the administration to court, citing both the impact on immigrant communities and what they call a rushed process for implementing the regulation.

\"This policy denies a permanent, secure future in this country to anyone who isn't white and wealthy,\" said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

Much of the administration's immigration agenda has ended up in court. For example, lawsuits have stalled progress on Trump's border wall and created hurdles for the new policy to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico.

ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs and Sophie Tatum contributed to this report.

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