US: 15 states sue over plan to help illegal immigrants buy health insurance

Fifteen states filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against President Joe Biden’s administration over a rule expected to allow 100,000 immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children to register the next year in health coverage that is guaranteed by the reform of the health system.

States are trying to stop the rule from taking effect on Nov. 1 and giving so-called “Dreamers” a tax break when they sign up for health coverage. Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace begins on the same day, just four days before the presidential election.

Those states filed the lawsuit in North Dakota, one of the plaintiff states. All have Republican state attorneys general who are part of their party’s effort to block Biden administration regulations that advance Democratic policy goals.

The lawsuit argues that the rule violates the 1996 welfare reform law as well as the ACA. He also claims it will encourage more immigrants to enter the United States illegally, which would burden states and their public school systems. However, many economists have concluded that immigrants generate a net economic benefit, and immigration appears to have spurred job growth as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. which prevented a recession.

The lawsuit was filed amid Republican attacks against Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate – that they are weak in reducing unauthorized immigration. Crossings reached record highs during the Biden administration but have declined recently.

“Illegal immigrants should not have free access to enter our country,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. “When they arrive they should not have benefits taxpayers, and the Biden-Harris administration should not have carte blanche to break federal law.”

Kobach wants to use a strong hand to control immigration. Two decades ago, he began building a national profile by calling for tighter restrictions on immigrants living in the United States illegally, and helped draft Arizona’s “show me your papers” provision. ” in 2010. Besides Kansas and North Dakota, the other states complain. They are Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. But in May, Biden said, referring to the rule, that he was “committed to giving Dreamers the support they need to succeed.” The president’s government protects them from deportation.

Dreamers and their advocates have said they are young people who had little choice in choosing to come to the United States, and years later have been turned away. fully into their communities. At least 25 states, including Kansas, Nebraska and Virginia, allow them to pay lower tuition rates reserved for their residents, according to the advocacy group National Immigration Law Center (NILC). .

In May, Biden said, “I am proud of what Dreamers have contributed to our country.”

“Dreamers” could not opt ​​into government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the requirement of having a “legal presence” in the United States. The plaintiff said that declaring their legal presence based on a rule is “abnormal per se,” because they would be at risk of deportation if the Biden administration did not intervene on their behalf.

“Subsidized health insurance through the ACA is a valuable public benefit that encourages irregular alien beneficiaries to remain in the United States,” the lawsuit states.

In previous lawsuits against the Biden administration, states have sometimes struggled to convince judges that the harm they face from a new rule is direct, concrete and specific enough for a right to sue. give them a law. Of the 15 protesting states, only Idaho and Virginia run their own health insurance markets rather than relying on a federal one.

But the protesting states argue that they all face increased costs due to an increase in unauthorized immigration. They are based on a 2023 report by the non-profit Alliance for American Immigration Reform, which not only advocates for tougher laws against illegal immigration but also for strong restrictions on immigration. – authorized migration.