In a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s decision to extend taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to include Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries, 15 additional states have joined Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
According to the lawsuit, this action is unconstitutional and places a heavy burden on the states because they would have to foot the bill for medical care for undocumented immigrants. The suit, which also names attorneys general from Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia as plaintiffs, claims that states like Missouri would be required to pay hundreds of millions in additional expenses.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs provide a number of reasons. To begin with, they argue that it is illegal for the Biden administration to have expanded the definition of “lawfully present” to include DACA recipients. Under the ACA’s original wording, only citizens and foreign nationals who are “lawfully present” in the United States are eligible for healthcare coverage.
The complaint claims that DACA beneficiaries should not be eligible for taxpayer-funded healthcare services because they are not considered to be “lawfully present” in the country.
The plaintiffs further draw attention to the financial toll that this action would take on the states since it would force them to spend scarce funds in order to give these benefits to those who are in the country illegally. “The American people should fund their own healthcare, not those here illegally,” the lawsuit says, adding that Missouri would have to pay between $342 million and $462 million annually for this initiative. “The American people are already struggling to make ends meet in the current economy,” the lawsuit says.
In a news release, Attorney General Bailey criticized the White House for attempting to further burden states already burdened with managing the flood of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers entering the country.
“Missouri AG Andrew Bailey announced today that he joined a 15-state coalition in filing a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris team over its rule treating illegal aliens like legal citizens and making states pay for their public benefits,” as part of his ongoing fight to prevent the misappropriation of tax dollars funded by Missourians.
Attorney General Bailey stated, “The Biden-Harris Administration is not only in charge of importing illegal aliens into Missouri, but they are also providing free access to citizen services, encouraging them to remain here unlawfully at the taxpayer’s expense.” “The American people should pay for their own healthcare, not the healthcare of those who are here illegally since they already struggle to make ends meet in the present economic climate. I’ll keep using every resource at my disposal to make sure that hard-earned money from Missourians isn’t going toward financing illegal immigration.
Naturally, Bailey is correct. Taxpayers bear the financial burden of the border problem, which has severely damaged both border villages and large cities nationwide. The issue has gotten worse because of the Biden administration’s inability to handle the southern border dilemma. This latest action is only a slap in the face to the states that are struggling to cope with the steady stream of immigrants. With any luck, the courts will halt it.
Author: Steven Sinclaire
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