After suggesting that the Statue of Liberty stood for immigrants “who will not become a public charge” and then linking the monument to European immigrants, acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli turned to Fox News @ Night where host Shannon Bream gave a softball interview allowing him to attack the media for their “totally untrue” coverage of him.

Cuccinelli is in the midst of a PR blitz to tout a new “public charge” rule targeting legal immigrants that the Trump administration is currently drafting. The rule would make it significantly harder for these immigrants to obtain a green card if they use public benefits like Medicaid, housing assistance, or food stamps. Analysts told The Washington Post that the rule could “dramatically” reduce family-based legal immigration, especially from Latin America and Africa.

On the morning of August 13, Cuccinelli discussed the impending rule on NPR, claiming that the Emma Lazarus poem The New Colossus etched on the Statue of Liberty can be interpreted as, “Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.”