BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) 鈥� Young adult immigrants known as 鈥淒reamers鈥� in 19 U.S. states will be temporarily blocked from getting health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's public marketplace, a federal judge has ruled, limiting an effort by the Biden administration to help immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
Judge Daniel Traynor of the U.S. District Court in North Dakota issued the order Monday from Bismarck, dealing a setback to that was estimated to allow 147,000 immigrants to enroll for coverage. Traynor's ruling came in filed over the policy and will remain in effect until the matter can go to trial.
The ruling applies to immigrants in 19 states where Republican attorneys general sued to avoid having to comply with the new policy. They cited concern over immigrants possibly qualifying for public subsidies available to many people insured under the ACA.
The GOP state officials argued that the rule created earlier this year by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would be a strong incentive for immigrants to remain in the U.S. illegally and could creating costs for states. They argued that both the Affordable Care Act and a 1996 law prohibit U.S. government benefits flowing to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. 鈥淒reamers鈥� are part of a program that makes them a low priority for deportation. However, President-elect Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election promising 鈥渢he largest in history.鈥� He will succeed President Joe Biden on Jan. 20.
Traynor, a Trump appointee during his first term in office, concluded through what he called 鈥渁 common-sense inference鈥� that access to subsidized ACA coverage is a powerful incentive for people to remain in the U.S. illegally, creating a substantial risk that states will 鈥渟uffer monetary harm.鈥�
Federal law gives CMS the authority to determine whether someone is living in the U.S. legally, but, Traynor wrote, 鈥淚t by no means allows the agency to circumvent congressional authority and redefine the term 鈥榣awfully present.鈥欌��
CMS said in a statement Tuesday that it is reviewing the lawsuit but does not comment on litigation. Nicholas Esp铆ritu, deputy legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, said some 鈥淒reamers鈥� have been waiting for more than a decade to get 鈥渓ife-sustaining鈥� health coverage through the ACA.
鈥淛udge Traynor鈥檚 ruling is both disappointing and wrong on the law,鈥� Esp铆ritu said, promising his group would continue to fight the issue.
But Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach called the decision 鈥渁 victory for the rule of law." He told reporters after a hearing in the lawsuit in Bismarck in October that the Biden administration sought to redefine what immigrants are living in the U.S. legally by 鈥渆xecutive fiat,鈥� calling the rule 鈥淎lice in Wonderland stuff.鈥�
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley added then that American taxpayers, through Congress, determine how the federal government treats immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
鈥淎nd it doesn鈥檛 always come across as friendly and nice and cuddly, but it speaks to the access to our health care system, the cost of our health care system, and the burden on the American public, the taxpayer,鈥� he said.
Kansas and North Dakota are the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in August. They've been joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
鈥淭hankfully, the court put another nail in the coffin of Biden鈥檚 radical left-wing agenda,鈥� Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement Tuesday.
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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press Writer Kimberly Chandler in Mongtomery, Alabama, also contributed.
John Hanna And Jack Dura, The Associated Press
