U.S. officials announced this week that under new federal rules, thousands of undocumented immigrants will have access to health care through the Affordable Care Act.
The new status will go to participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has protected undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as young adults from deportation since 2012. The program also provides work permits to recipients. More than 500,000 immigrants have DACA protections but are not eligible for benefits such as federal health insurance programs.
A rule the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to announce Friday will change that and give these immigrants access to health insurance and subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which takes effect in November.
U.S. officials estimate that about 100,000 uninsured people could gain health insurance as a result.
President Biden said in a statement that he is “proud of the contributions” of DACA recipients to the United States and is committed to providing support to them.
“That's why,” he added, the administration is “taking this historic step to ensure DACA recipients have the same access to health care as their neighbors through the Affordable Care Act.”
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters Thursday that the measure will have a major impact on the welfare of immigrants. He noted that DACA recipients are much more likely to be uninsured than the average American, and people without health insurance are less likely to have regular health checkups.
The Biden administration's move to expand protections for young undocumented immigrants comes as the administration faces increasing pressure to tighten border restrictions and follows years of legal challenges to DACA.
The Trump administration sought to water down DACA, but the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the effort in 2020, leaving the program's future in doubt. In 2021, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the government could no longer provide protection to new applicants. Immigrants already in the DACA program can continue to maintain and renew their protections.
