Montgomery, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined a coalition of 16 states in a lawsuit aimed at preventing the Biden-Harris administration from extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) benefits to certain undocumented immigrants. The lawsuit challenges the administration’s decision to make Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health plans under the ACA.
The final rule, scheduled to take effect on November 1, would make more than 200,000 DACA recipients eligible for these benefits nationwide, including approximately 3,460 in Alabama. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the regulation, which the lawsuit claims violates the ACA’s original provisions and federal law regarding public benefits for non-citizens.
Attorney General Marshall criticized the administration’s move, stating, “The latest assault on the American worker by the Biden-Harris administration is forcing taxpaying American citizens to subsidize Obamacare for illegal aliens. Not only is this unconstitutional, but it is just plain wrong.”
The coalition’s lawsuit argues that the ACA, as written by Congress, limits eligibility for subsidized health exchanges to U.S. citizens, nationals, and individuals “lawfully present” in the country. The complaint contends that the new regulation oversteps this limitation and contradicts a federal law prohibiting the provision of public benefits to certain non-citizens.
Alongside Attorney General Marshall, the attorneys general from Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia have also joined the lawsuit.
The case highlights ongoing debates over immigration policy and the scope of federal benefits for non-citizens, particularly as it relates to healthcare access under the ACA.
