TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Fifteen states filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Biden administration over legislation expected to allow 100,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. legally as children to enroll next year in federal Affordable Care Act. Care Act’s health insurance.
States want to prevent the law from going into effect on November 1 and give people known as “Dreamers” a tax break when they sign up for coverage. The Affordable Care Act’s marketplace registration opens the same day, just four days before the presidential election.
The states filed suit in North Dakota, one of the states involved. All have Republican attorneys general who are part of the GOP’s efforts to thwart the Biden administration’s policies that advance Democratic policy agendas.
The lawsuit argues that the law violates the welfare reform act of 1996 and the ACA. They also say it will encourage more immigrants to come to the US illegally, burdening states and their public school systems. Many economists have concluded that immigrants provide substantial economic benefit, and immigration appears to have boosted job growth after the COVID-19 pandemic prevented a recession.
The case comes amid Republican attacks on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, for failing to curb illegal immigration. Border crossings peaked during the Biden administration but have declined recently.
“Illegal immigrants should not be allowed to enter our country,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. in violation of federal law. “
Kobach is an immigration expert who began building a national profile two decades ago by advocating tougher restrictions on immigrants living in the US illegally, and helped write Arizona’s “show your papers” law 2010. Except for Kansas and North Dakota, other states are affected. in the case are Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.
Officials at the US Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment on the case. But Biden said in May when introducing the law that he is “committed to giving Dreamers the support they need to succeed.” The Biden administration protects them from deportation.
“Dreamers” and their advocates said they were young people who had little or no choice to come to the US and years later were fully integrated into their communities. At least 25 states, including Kansas, Nebraska and Virginia, allow them to pay the minimum tuition fees reserved for their citizens, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
In May, Biden said: “I’m proud of the Dreamers’ contribution to our country.”
“Dreamers” have been ineligible for government-sponsored health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having a “lawful presence” in the US because they will be deported. without the intervention of the Biden administration.
“The health insurance coverage provided through the ACA is an important public benefit that encourages immigrant beneficiaries to remain in the United States,” the lawsuit said.
In previous cases against the Biden administration, states have sometimes struggled to convince judges that the harm they face from the new law is clear, concrete and clear enough to give them the right to accuse Of the 15 states involved in the lawsuit, only Idaho and Virginia run their own health insurance market instead of relying on the state.
But states argue that they all face high costs from illegal immigrants. They rely on the 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which not only talks about tougher laws against illegal immigrants but also bans legal immigration.
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