On Monday, U.S. District Judge Daniel M. Traynor blocked a Biden Administration rule that would have allowed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients from signing up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Under the ACA, legally-present non-citizens can purchase plans through the ACA marketplace and received government subsidies to help do so. However, DACA recipients (including 90,000 Texans), exist in a grey area between legal and non-legal status. Brought over the border illegally while children by their parents, they receive protection from deportation, but often face poverty and other difficulties for their status. The Biden Administration responded to those difficulties by expanding coverage eligibility to DACA recipients in May.
Republican states, including Texas, responded immediately by suing the administration. Their arguments hinged on racist claims that providing healthcare for non-citizens was an unfair drain on state resources that the federal government did not have a right to force on the states. There is zero evidence that non-citizens cause any additional stress on the medical system or the economy. What little research Texas has done on the matter shows that non-citizens actually put in more than they take out, but the idea of parasitic migrants remains a potent one in conservative circles.
The idea clearly had merit with Judge Traynor, who was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump in his first term. The ruling creates a temporary block on DACA recipients getting ACA coverage.
However, that is likely to be permanent. Trump, who was elected in part for his sweeping anti-migrant rhetoric and who has promised mass deportations, is unlikely to continue defending the law once he resumes power in January. The rule change was simply an executive order by Biden, not a new law, and the incoming Trump Administration is under no obligation to continue pushing for it to go into effect.
Trump’s record with DACA recipients is mixed. He has stated that he has no plans to go after them, but he also tried to gut the entire program while he was president, only being stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump criticized the Biden Administration for not passing a law to protect DACA recipients, but did not pass such a bill during his term either.
Meanwhile, DACA recipients remain some of the most vulnerable people in America. More than a third of DACA recipients have no health insurance, leading to unmet medical needs and a lack of preventable care. A 2023 study by the National Immigration Law Center found that DACA recipients frequently skip checkups and medical tests, which adds to healthcare costs in the future.
Nonetheless, Attorney Ken Paxton celebrated the win this week.
“Today, we prevented yet another attempt by the Biden Administration to spend our hard-earned tax dollars on radically unpopular policies that put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens,” he said in a statement.
