Biden administration officials expanded federal health insurance eligibility last week to more illegal aliens, prompting rebuke from Senate Republicans.
The White House announced that they would extend Affordable Care Act coverage to recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, meaning over 100,000 young illegal aliens are now able to receive subsidized insurance. The administration emphasized that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris want to provide DACA recipients with “the opportunities and support they need to succeed, including access to affordable, quality healthcare coverage” while they try to pass a pathway to citizenship through Congress.
“Together, they promised to protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, lowering costs and expanding coverage so that every American has the peace of mind that health insurance brings,” the announcement from the White House said. “Today’s final rule delivers on the President’s commitment by giving DACA recipients that same peace and opportunity.”
Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer, and Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance wrote a letter this week to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra voicing concern over the rule, asking for his “legal justification” for not seeking approval for the policy from Congress.
“At a time when our nation has endured record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, this announcement sends a clear message: fixing the manufactured border crisis is the last thing that the Biden administration wants to do,” they wrote. “Struggling American taxpayers are already on the hook for the costs of housing and welfare for illegal immigrants. And now, with this misguided rule, President Biden is asking these same hardworking, taxpaying Americans to foot the bill for illegal immigrants’ healthcare. This new policy is not only unjust, it is economically unsustainable for millions of American citizens.”
Mass illegal immigration over the past several decades has indeed imposed considerable burdens on taxpayers. One study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform calculated that federal agencies spend more than $66 billion on illegal immigration every year, while state and local governments spend nearly $116 billion; illegal immigrants pay $31 billion in taxes annually, meaning they induce some $150 billion in overall costs every year.
Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than 7.5 million individuals entering the country illegally since President Joe Biden assumed office. Americans are now most likely to say that immigration is the “most important problem” facing the country, according to a survey from Gallup, marking a surge in concern about the issue ahead of the fall elections.
