Immigration advocates in New York decried the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that will likely pave the way for President Donald Trump's administration to broaden the ability of the federal government to restrict low-income immigrants by denying them visas and green cards when seeking social services.

The Supreme Court on Monday, in a 5-4 decision, lifted the injunction for the rule change, which would broaden the number of benefit programs that qualify under the so-called "public charge" rule and make it more difficult for poorer immigrants to come to and stay in the United States.

The Trump administration has argued the move will boost self-sufficiency; immigration advocates say it is meant to favor richer people over low-income immigrants.

“By lifting the injunction against the Trump administration’s ‘public charge’ rule, the Supreme Court is allowing the creation of an immigration system that discriminates against the poor and middle class," said 32BJ SEIU President Kyle Bragg. "Not only can the administration deny a green card to anyone who has accessed the most basic healthcare, housing, and nutrition benefits, they can also deny a green card to anyone who might seem ‘likely’ to need those benefits in the future."

Todd Schulte, the president of FWD.us, called the enforcement of the public charge rule "a backdoor effort to cut legal immigration" and create "wealth test" for coming to the U.S.

"Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold this policy will make life exponentially more difficult for many aspiring Americans who are working to become citizens, and will make it substantially harder for future immigrants to come here through existing legal channels," he said.