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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFifteen states, including Indiana, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Biden administration over a rule that is expected to allow 100,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to enroll next year in the federal Affordable Care Act’s health insurance.
The states are seeking to block the rule from taking effect Nov. 1 and providing people known as “Dreamers” access to tax breaks when they sign up for coverage. The Affordable Care Act’s marketplace enrollment opens the same day, just four days ahead of the presidential election.
The states filed suit in North Dakota, one of the states involved. All have Republican attorneys general who are part of a GOP effort to thwart Biden administration rules advancing Democratic policy goals.
The lawsuit argues that the rule violates a 1996 welfare reform law and the ACA. They also said it would encourage more immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally, burdening the states and their public school systems. Many economists have concluded that immigrants provide a net economic benefit, and immigration appears to have fueled job growth after the COVID-19 pandemic that prevented a recession.
However, many cities and states have been overwhelmed in recent years with the surge of migrants and are struggling to find housing and other resources for the new arrivals.
The lawsuit comes amid Republican attacks on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, as weak on curbing illegal immigration. Border crossings hit record highs during the Biden administration, with millions entering the U.S. illegally, but have dropped more recently.
“Illegal aliens shouldn’t get a free pass into our country,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. “They shouldn’t receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive, and the Biden-Harris administration shouldn’t get a free pass to violate federal law.”
Kobach is an immigration hardliner who began building a national profile two decades ago by urging tough restrictions on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, and he helped draft Arizona’s “show your papers” law in 2010. Besides Kansas and North Dakota, the other states involved in the lawsuit are Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment about the lawsuit. But Biden said in May in outlining the rule that he was “committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed.” The Biden administration is shielding them from deportation.
The “Dreamers” and their advocates have said they’re young people who had little or no choice in coming to the U.S. and years later are fully integrated into their communities. At least 25 states, including Kansas, Nebraska and Virginia, allow them to pay the lower tuition rates reserved for their residents, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
In May, Biden said: “I’m proud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country.”
The “Dreamers” have been ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having a “lawful presence” in the U.S. The states filing the lawsuit said declaring their lawful presence by rule is “illogical on its face,” given that they’d face deportation without Biden administration intervention.
“Subsidized health insurance through the ACA is a valuable public benefit that encourages unlawfully present alien beneficiaries to remain in the United States,” the lawsuit said.
In past lawsuits against the Biden administration, states have sometimes struggled to persuade judges that the harm they face from a new rule is direct, concrete and specific enough to give them the right to sue. Of the 15 states involved in the lawsuit, only Idaho and Virginia run their own health insurance marketplaces instead of relying on a federal one.
But the states argue that they all face higher costs from increased illegal immigration. They rely on a 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which not only argues for stronger laws against illegal immigration but sharp curbs on legal immigration.
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Why do people have such cold hearts and probably claim to be Christians. 🙁
They are human beings too.
Please tell us what your address and bank account numbers are so we can send immigrants your way
There’s a huge difference in compassion and negligence and irresponsibility in terms of running the welfare of a nation. Using your logic the USA would definitely go bankrupt and as usual the tax payers will bare the grunt of the bill to accomplish what the Biden administration wants. It’s becoming cliche but The US can’t even take care of its own citizens. Im a landlord that have a few properties with section 8 recipients and section 8 is behind 4 months in payments. Im at a crossroad if I should evict or not. Now if that government agency can’t effectively make month payments for its tenants, how then are they able to take care of illegal immigrants? When you make political decisions off your emotions you always make the WRONG decision.
Glen, here’s a factoid you might’ve missed when you skipped high school civics:
Many immigrants are claiming asylum, and as such, are rightfully entitled to benefits. And IF the US immigration courts work at current levels, the case backlog won’t be caught up for three years.
A reasonable bipartisan immigration solution was proposed in this Congress, but Trump wanted it pulled.
So, we all wait. For November.
Fully agree!
Kevin – you can’t evict due to IHA being hacked lol
They owe me like 90k – but we’ll get paid next month – no big deal
Let them eat cake.
The “pro-life” party once again demonstrating they are really only out to control women’s bodies, because they care nothing about children once they are birthed. The GOP’s fear of Dreamers is they realize the vast majority of Dreamers will end up voting for those who helped make their path to citizenship and the American dream easier. As the boomers continue to die off, the GOPs base of racists, homophobes, xenophobes, and Christian Nationalists will keep dwindling until the GOP will be unable to elect a dogcatcher in the middle of a rural red state.
Nothing says “freedom” like repressing those who can’t defend themselves and are doing work that the Karen/Kevin crowd won’t do.
The lefties social media brigade is out in force today. David, very nice got all the troupes included. Michelle, keep banging on those Christians which we all know is the problem. Evan a Karen/Kevin mention. Next time your handlers are going to want a few references to Trump Vance, Israelites, whatever Project 2025 is, and their evil MAGA followers.
I thought it was Agenda 47 now?
Frankly, the only thing about this lawsuit that surprises me is that good ol’ Texas and Florida aren’t leading the charge.
So they can work and pay taxes, same as any other natural citizen, but they don’t deserve to benefit the same? Doesn’t make sense and for that reason this lawsuit will fail. As it should.
If we would follow the immigration laws we would not have this problem. Send them home along with their illegal parents.
Anthony, if Trump had not killed the bi-partisan border bill (largely written by a conservative Republican Senator), you’d have nothing to write about. But the Orange God needed the issue to enflame you and the rest of his base, and bingo! You get to post a senseless comment here.
The economy needs immigration. If you want to see the future of what Republicans are proposing, look at the population cliff that Japan is dealing with.
Of course, if Republicans were truly serious about the issue, if they wanted to shun immigration and yet have the people necessary to grow the economy, they’d be willing to spend money on better education and improving material outcomes and the cost of childcare and the cost of housing since one of the biggest reasons that people are having kids is because they simply can’t afford to. As much as it would be lovely to do so, and I don’t like paying taxes either, you can’t tax cut your way out the problem.
** people aren’t having children **
Yes, let’s keep encouraging more and more people to illegally cross the border. Theirs endless money and benefits right. Not to mention a glut of doctors in this country so that won’t be a problem either. I know these are dreamers and theirs only 100k of them, but this is just the beginning. By the way David I hope your parents aren’t boomers. Have you told them you can’t wait for them to die?
Biden tried to stop it – thank your Republican senators in Indiana who voted down the border legislation
Theirs, there’s, who cares….
This would require health care service providers to either violate their Hippocratic oath, or work for free! I hope these selfish b*****ds are checking the citizenship status of all of the people who perform services for them, like lawn care workers, behind the scenes restaurant workers, etc!