Steve Portnoy, White House Correspondents' Association president-elect and correspondent for CBS News Radio, asked U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli during a press conference Monday if the Trump administration was abandoning the welcome to immigrants enshrined on the Statue of Liberty.

"As along as the public charge rule as been in effect since the late 1800s there’s also been — almost as long — the words at the base of the Statue of Liberty that read, 'Give us your tired, your poor.' You’re implementing a public charge rule for the first time. Is that sentiment, 'Give us your tired, your poor,' still operative in the United States or should those words come down? Should the plaque come down on the Statue of Liberty?" Portnoy asked, referring to The New Colossus poem by Emma Lazarus, which sits on a pedestal at the statue.

The question was a response to the Trump administration's policy refusing green cards to those who rely on government assistance. The Department of Homeland Security agency formally submitted an update Monday to a 1999 rule that expands the definition of a "public charge," a term the government uses to indicate a noncitizen who has a history of receiving long-term financial or other assistance.

The full line Portnoy was referring to reads: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

Cuccinelli, the country's top citizenship official, said the poem will not be removed or altered. "I'm certainly not prepared to take anything down off the Statue of Liberty," Cuccinelli said.

"We have a long history of being one of the most welcoming nations in the world on a lot of bases, whether you be an asylee, whether you be coming here to join your family or yourself," Cuccinelli continued. "I do not think by any means we are ready to take anything off the Statue of Liberty."

Immigrants seeking to enter the United States for the first time as well as those seeking renewal of visas will be judged based on assistance they have accepted from the federal government for at least 12 months, including cash benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, most forms of Medicaid, and some housing programs. The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Medicaid were not previously part of the 20-year-old rule.

Cuccinelli said the change will be relevant in the review of about 400,000 annual applications.

Two years ago, CNN reporter Jim Acosta also suggested during a testy exchange with White House aide Stephen Miller that the administration was abandoning the spirit of the Lazarus poem.