There are a lot of paper immigration regulations that are rarely enforced in real life. One of these is that immigrants are supposed to be able to support themselves. Now it's one of those regs that the Trump administration is actually enforcing to the outrage of all the right people.

The number of Mexicans refused immigrant visas to the U.S. because they might become dependent on government benefits skyrocketed under President Donald Trump, according to State Department data obtained by POLITICO. Between Oct. 1 and July 29, the State Department denied 5,343 immigrant visa applications for Mexican nationals on the grounds that the applicants were so poor or infirm that they risked becoming a “public charge,” according to the statistics. That’s up from just seven denials for Mexican applicants in fiscal year 2016, the last full year under former President Barack Obama.

In other words, the State Department is actually doing its job.

And, despite what the media is implying, public charge is being enforced across the board.

The number of public charge denials for applicants from all nations also rose during the past year. Preliminary data obtained by POLITICO shows 12,179 visa rejections on public charge grounds through July 29 — which puts the department on pace to surpass last year’s total. The State Department disqualified only 1,033 people on public charge grounds in fiscal 2016. Applicants from various other countries — including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Haiti and the Dominican Republic — also saw dramatic increases in denials attributed to the risk that they would consume government benefits.

Again, that's how this is supposed to work.

If you're coming to this country, you're supposed to be able to support yourself, instead of being added to the welfare rolls.

Under the DHS rule, consideration would be given not only to whether an applicant was so poor that they were likely to receive certain U.S. government benefits, but also to whether the applicant received these benefits already.

That would be the best evidence.

“It is imposing a tougher standard for working-class people,” said Charles Wheeler, a director with the pro-migrant Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

Or, more accurately, non-working people.

Some countries experienced little change. Only three Canadian immigrant visa applicants were refused on public charge grounds in fiscal 2018. A single applicant from that country was denied in fiscal 2016.

Could it be because Canadians are more likely to have jobs and use less welfare? Either that or we can do the musual fake news thing and blame racism.