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By Miriam Raftery
Photo: Protesters support DACA in San Francisco, 2017; cc by Ahimse Gefence
April 14, 2023 (Washington D.C.) – The Biden administration has announced plans to allow young undocumented immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) be eligible for healthcare programs coverage under Medicare and the Affordable Care Act exchanges. But a group of conservative-led states has filed a legal action seeking to block the expanded coverage.
“Healthcare should be a right,” President Biden posted on Twitter. “I’ve worked hard to get more Americans health insurance than ever before,” adding that the action would give ”Dreamers the same opportunities.”
The DACA program, started under the Obama-Biden administration, allows young people brought to the U.S. as children to be able to live and work in the U.S. It was challenged by the Trump administration and a court blocked new sign ups to the DACA program, though an estimated 580,000 young people still in the program would stand to benefit if the health care expansion is upheld.
Specifically, President Joe Biden has asked the Dept. of Health and Human Services to propose a rule amending the definition of “lawful presence” for purposes of eligibility for federal healthcare benefits. Eight states have already done so.
Jamila Michener, co-director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity at Cornell University, says the benefits would be “resounding” not only for young immigrants, but also for the entire healthcare system by reducing the cost of emergency care. “No one wins when immigrants cannot readily access healthcare,” Michener concludes.
Congressman Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) hopes to see Dreamers gain access to more social programs, such as federal housing loans.
“Dreamers, who on average were brought here at the age of 6, deserve access to the same basic human rights as everyone else,” he says. “The Biden Administration’s announcement is a huge step in the right direction that brings much-needed momentum.”
The lawsuit was filed by Republican attorneys general for Texas and other states. The states contend that the lawsuit is about the scope of executive power, not the wisdom of any particular immigrant policy, though the GOP has long waged legal battles to overturn the DACA program.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Tennessee, has stated ,”President Biden’s inflation has already hammered working families, and now the Democrats want our citizens to pay for new taxpayer -funded benefits for illegal immigrants as well.”
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