Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, blasting the Biden administration’s plan to allow illegal immigrants access to government-provided healthcare.
The two were joined in the letter by several other Republican Congressmen and blasted the Biden administration’s plan to expand Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Obamacare market access to illegal immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The letter comes months after President Biden announced that illegal immigrants who are enrolled in DACA would be able to access the government-funded programs.
“By providing health insurance to DACA recipients, this policy further burdens programs intended to serve U.S. citizens and simultaneously encourages more aliens to enter our country illegally in the hopes of receiving similar protection and services,” the letter from the Republican lawmakers reads.
Another portion states “Given that more than 25 million Americans are uninsured, we find it unimaginable that the government would prioritize providing illegal aliens with health insurance coverage.”
As of 2020, it was projected that there were over 643,000 DACA recipients living in the United States.
The letter goes on to condemn the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis, asserting “This approach appears to align with the open-borders agenda advanced by your colleague, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with hundreds of thousands of aliens apprehended trying to enter our country illegally every month.”
It was also signed by 14 Congressional Republicans: Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Ken Buck (R-CO), Brian Babin (R-TX), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), and Tom McClintock (R-CA).
The letter points out that President Obama promised that Obamacare wouldn’t offer healthcare coverage to illegal immigrants, also noting that the DACA program was ruled illegal in October 2022 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, though it remains in use for those who were enrolled before the court’s decision.
Meanwhile, a recent report from Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee found illegal immigrants are putting strain on the American medical system, leaving hospitals to deal with billions of dollars in unpaid medical bills.