Earlier in the summer, the administration rolled out the final version of a "public charge" regulation, which would make it easier for the government to deny green cards and temporary visas for legal immigrants who use public benefits like food stamps and government-subsidized housing.
Capps told CBS News that Friday's proclamation will go "much further" than the public charge rule in terms of health-based restrictions on people seeking to immigrate to the U.S. The administration is hoping to accomplish this, he added, by rolling out an abrupt executive order that will not be subject to feedback prior to implementation unlike the public charge rule, which is expected to take effect later this month.
"Without any public comment or regulatory process at all, (the president) is just going to put that out there," Capps said, suggesting that the lack of a rule-making process for the change might become a liability in court for the administration.
Capps said the proclamation does not outline a concrete path for visa petitioners to prove they will either obtain health insurance or cover all medical costs in the U.S.
The order instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to establish "standards and procedures" for U.S. consular offices to determine whether applicants satisfy the new requirements. The State Department did not immediately respond to questions regarding what if any steps the agency is taking to comply with the proclamation.
Immigration advocates were quick to denounce the announcement, saying it represents yet another effort by the Trump administration to penalize low-income immigrants.
"The Trump administration today launched two more shameless attacks on low-income people and immigrants, by proposing dramatic cuts to life-saving food stamps and seeking to prevent immigrants lacking access to health insurance of which the administration works constantly to deprive them from entering the country on immigrant visas," Javier Valds, co-director of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York, and city council member Carlos Menchaca said in a statement.
In his order, Mr. Trump invoked the same provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that his administration used to announce the travel ban against predominately Muslim countries in 2017, as well as a sweeping asylum restriction on migrants who crossed the border illegally between ports of entry that is currently held up in court.
But Rand, the Obama White House official, noted that Mr. Trump cited national security concerns for the past two restrictions.
"Here, there's not even a gesture at national security," he said. "It's just saying 'well, it's bad for the health care system when people are uninsured.'"
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, so long as you can afford the copay.