A federal judge has halted President Joe Biden’s plans to open the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, to illegal aliens enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
In May, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced a final rule to open Obamacare rolls to some DACA illegal aliens enrolled in the program.
Former President Barack Obama first created the DACA program via executive order, shielding more than a million illegal aliens from deportation through the years.
On Monday, District Judge Daniel Traynor granted a preliminary injunction and stay to ensure that Biden’s agencies cannot implement such plans while the issue makes its way through federal court.
“This decision is a big win for the rule of law,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R), who led the lawsuit, 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. [Emphasis added]
Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia had joined Kansas in the lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration.
The preliminary injunction is particularly significant as President-elect Donald Trump is expected to throw out the final rule once taking office in January of next year.
Prior cost estimates have suggested that should about 100,000 DACA illegal aliens enroll in Obamacare, it would cost American taxpayers about $300 million annually. Other estimates have put the annual financial burden at about $2.8 billion.
In his 2012 State of the Union Address, Obama vowed to Americans that illegal aliens would not be eligible for Obamacare, to which Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted, “You lie!”
The case is Kansas v. United States, No. 1:24-cv-00150 in the U.S. District Court of the District of North Dakota.
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