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A federal judge in North Dakota on Monday blocked the Biden administration from putting into action a new policy that would have made some illegal immigrants eligible for government-supported health care.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor agreed to stop a new rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would have let people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status sign up for Obamacare. Traynor stated that Kansas and the 18 Republican attorneys general who challenged the policy were likely to win, so he issued a stay against it.
Traynor pointed out that CMS broke the law when it decided to include DACA recipients in the definition of "lawfully present" in the U.S. DACA recipients are people who entered the country illegally as children with their parents and were protected from deportation by an executive action from President Barack Obama.
“The authority granted to CMS by the ACA [Affordable Care Act] is to ascertain whether an individual meets the requirements for lawful status. It by no means allows the agency to circumvent congressional authority and redefine the term ‘lawfully present,’” Traynor wrote.
“As it currently stands, the ACA does not allow federal healthcare subsidies or coverage for aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States,” he added.
Traynor also agreed with the Republican attorneys general that the policy could encourage illegal immigrants to stay in their states because of the healthcare benefits.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who led the lawsuit, celebrated the decision, saying, “Big win for the rule of law. Congress never intended that illegal aliens should receive Obama care benefits. Indeed, two laws prohibit them from receiving such benefits. The Biden administration tried to break those laws. But we fought back, and defeated the Justice Department.”
The states involved in the lawsuit were Ohio, Idaho, Nebraska, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Arkansas. They argued that the rule was arbitrary, capricious, and would encourage more illegal immigration.
In response, CMS mentioned they were reviewing the judge's decision but couldn't comment further.
This rule change was opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, whose campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt called it “unfair and unsustainable” back in May.
“Joe Biden's handouts for illegal immigrants are especially devastating to Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and union workers who are forced to watch their jobs and public resources stolen by people who illegally entered our country,” Leavitt, Trump's incoming press secretary, said at the time.
Last month, another judge overturned a different Biden administration program that would have given legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
