(Photo: Agency)

SAN FRANCISCO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Attorney General Bob Ferguson of the US state of Washington and other elected officials Friday urged the federal government to halt a controversial immigration policy during ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Ferguson is leading a coalition of 17 attorneys general and 45 state and local officials to ask President Donald Trump's administration to suspend the implementation of an immigration policy known as "the public charge" rule, which Ferguson said would discourage some immigrants from accessing health care amid the expanding outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Under the policy of the "public charge" rule, immigrants who have applied for some public benefits such as housing, health care or food stamps would risk being denied permanent residency or "green cards" in the country.

In a letter addressed to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ferguson called the implementation of the immigration policy "irresponsible" and having "devastating effects."

"DHS's implementation of the Public Charge Rule during this public health crisis is irresponsible and reckless," he said.

Ferguson said the DHS has received warnings of the potentially devastating effects of the rule if its implementation were to coincide with the outbreak of a highly communicable disease such as COVID-19.

"You have authority to swiftly correct your agency's inexcusable failure to consider the Public Charge Rule's risks to public health and safety," he said in the letter signed by dozens of state and local officials, as well as lawmakers in the state.

Several US states, including California and Washington, have sued the Trump administration over the "public charge" rule, but the US Supreme Court ruled in January this year that the federal government could temporarily enforce the policy, which took effect on Feb. 24.

To date, the United States has reported a total of well above 200 confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, including 15 deaths. Apart from one man who died from the coronavirus in California, most of the other COVID-19 deaths occurred in Washington state, home to the first US confirmed coronavirus case.