A federal judge in North Dakota temporarily blocked a Biden administration rule that would have granted Dreamers to access health care through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
U.S. District Judge Daniel M. Traynor granted Kansas, alongside 18 other states, a stay regarding a final rule from the Biden administration allowing some DACA recipients, or Dreamers, access to the ACA marketplace, according to The Hill.
Recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), people who were brought into the country illegally as children and have since grown up in the U.S., have been considered to not be "lawfully present" when it comes to health care law due to prior Medicare and Medicaid Services rules, resulting in some recipients to fall out of coverage, Texas Tribune reports.
The states argued that by allowing DACA recipients to benefit from subsidized health insurance and making them "lawfully present" in the health care system, they will want to stay in the country longer, causing states to spend more money on resources like education, health care and law enforcement.
"The authority granted to CMS by the ACA is to ascertain whether an individual meets the requirements for lawful status. It by no means allows the agency to circumvent congressional authority and redefine the term 'lawfully present,'" Traynor said in the ruling.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) immediately celebrated the federal court's decision, blaming the Biden administration for attempting to "break" the law.
"The decision is a big win for the rule of law," Kobach said in a statement. "Congress never intended that illegal aliens should receive Obamacare benefits. Indeed, two laws prohibit them from receiving such benefits. The Biden administration tried to break those laws. But we fought back and defeated the Biden Justice Department."
In response, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spokesperson said the agency is "reviewing the court's decision; however, the agency does not comment on litigation," according to The Hill.
The court's decision comes as President-elect Donald Trump continues spewing contradictory stances on immigration and DACA.
"We have to do something about the Dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age," Trump said on "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "And many of these are middle-aged people now. They don't even speak the language of their country."
In that interview, the President-elect said he would work with Democrats on a plan and blamed them for not protecting Dreamers. However, it was President Barack Obama who first took executive action in 2012 to spare Dreamers from deportation through DACA.
Trump was also surprised that President Biden had not passed a law to protect Dreamers from efforts to gut the program, like his own attempt in 2017.
"You know, Biden could've done it because he controlled, you know, Congress to a certain extent, right?" Trump said. "He could've done something, but they didn't do it. I never understood why because they always seemed to want to do it, but then when it comes down to it, they don't."
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