Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has joined a 15-state coalition in a lawsuit against the Biden administration regarding its rule they say treats illegal aliens as legal citizens and makes states pay for their public benefits.
Bailey says it’s part of his “ongoing fight to protect Missourians’ tax dollars from misuse.
“Not only is the Biden-Harris Administration responsible for bringing illegal aliens into Missouri, they are also giving illegal immigrants access to citizen benefits for free, encouraging them to remain here illegally on the taxpayers’ dime,” Bailey said in an August 14 press release. “The American people are already struggling to make ends meet in the current economy; their paychecks should fund their own healthcare, not the healthcare of those here illegally.
“I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to ensure that Missourians’ hard-earned dollars are not funding illegal immigration.”
The rule is scheduled to go into effect November 1. Bailey and the rest of the coalition of AGs say it would cause states to expend limited resources on illegal immigrants.
According to the complaint, there are between 77,000 and 104,000 illegal aliens currently residing in Missouri. Bailey says they cost taxpayers between $342 million and $462 million per year.
“In the ACA (Affordable Care Act), Congress limited eligibility to participate in a qualified health plan through a subsidized health exchange to citizens or nationals of the United States and individuals ‘lawfully present’ in the United States,” the complaint states.
The coalition points out the current administration’s new definition of “lawfully present” is itself unlawful because it violates the plain text of the federal ACA.
“The Final Rule amends CMS’ definition of ‘lawfully present’ for public healthcare benefits to now include unlawfully present aliens who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA),” the coalition says in the complaint. “Now, through the Final Rule, CMS reverses course and proclaims that DACA recipients are in fact ‘lawfully present’ for purposes of receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits through the ACA.”
In addition to Missouri, the attorneys general of Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia joined in filing the lawsuit.
The complaint was filed in federal court in North Dakota’s Western Division against the United States of America and the Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Kansas Attorney General Kris W. Kobach’s office is leading the coalition, which seeks to have the effective date of the Final Rule postponed pending judicial review and to have the Final Rule vacated as both contrary to law and unreasonable and arbitrary.
"Illegal aliens shouldn't get a free pass into our country," Kobach said in an August 8 press release. "They shouldn't receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive, and the Biden-Harris administration shouldn't get a free pass to violate federal law. That's why I am leading a multistate lawsuit to stop this illegal regulation from going into effect."
The coalition also seeks to enjoin the defendants from implementing the Final Rule.