15 states sue to block Biden’s effort to help migrants in the US illegally obtain health coverage

TOPEKA, Kan. Fifteen states filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Biden administration over a rule This is expected to allow 100,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to enroll next year in federal health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

States are trying to block the rule from taking effect on November 1 and giving people known as “Dreamers” access to tax breaks when they sign up for coverage. Applications in the Affordable Care Act marketplace open 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 a GOP effort to prevent Biden administration rules from 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, overwhelming states and their public education systems. Many economists concluded that immigrants provide a net economic benefit, and immigration appears to have boosted job growth following the COVID-19 pandemic that averted a recession.

The lawsuit comes amid Republican attacks on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, so weak on curbing illegal immigration. Border crossings have reached record levels during the Biden administration, but have fallen more recently.

“Illegal aliens should not have a free pass to enter our country,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. “They should not receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive, and the Biden-Harris administration should not be given a free pass for violating federal law.”

Kobach is an immigration hardliner who began building a national profile two decades ago by calling for tough restrictions on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, and helped write the Arizona bill “Show your papers” law in 2010. In addition to 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.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. But Biden said in May, when outlining the rule, that he was “committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed.” The Biden administration is protecting them from deportation.

The “Dreamers” and their supporters said they are young people who had little or no choice in coming to the US and years later are fully integrated into their communities. At least 25 states, including Kansas, Nebraska and Virginia, allow them to pay the lowest monthly payments reserved for their residents, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

In May, Biden said, “I am proud of Dreamers’ contributions to our country.”

The “Dreamers” were not eligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having a “legal presence” in the US. The states that filed suit said declaring their presence legal by rule is “illogical on its face.” ”As they would face deportation without intervention from the Biden administration.

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

In previous lawsuits against the Biden administration, states have sometimes had difficulty persuading judges that the harms they face from a new rule are 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 rather than relying on a federal marketplace.

But states argue that they all face higher costs due to the rise in illegal immigration. They are based on a 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which not only advocates stronger laws against illegal immigration, but also severe restrictions on legal immigration.