On Monday, the Trump administration announced that it was moving forward with a new policy blocking immigrants who are deemed likely to use government assistance programs, such as food stamps and Medicaid, from obtaining a green card. The rule, which resurrects a 19th-century scheme that punished poor immigrants, marks one of the administration’s most severe efforts to restrict legal immigration. Amid intense backlash over the announcement, acting director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli was asked Tuesday about how the new policy squares with the sentiments expressed in the iconic poem, “The New Colossus,” inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. “Would you also agree that Emma Lazarus’ words etched on the Statue of Liberty, ‘Give me your tired, give me your poor,’ are also a part of the American ethos?” NPR’s Rachel Martin asked on Morning Edition.