Attacks on Immigrants Continue to Intensify, Threatening Access to Health Care and Other Critical Services

Coupled with increasingly menacing rhetoric, highly visible Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, and other stepped-up immigration enforcement efforts, the Trump Administration is now targeting immigrant access to health care as another front in its attacks on immigrant communities. Federal eligibility restrictions have long barred immigrants without lawful immigration status from accessing most federal health care benefits, including Medicaid, Medicare, and subsidies to purchase marketplace coverage. However, the budget reconciliation bill, recently passed by Congress (and described in a recent Health Care in Motion), rolls back coverage options even for lawfully present immigrants such as asylees and refugees. In addition, the Administration has recently announced its intent to further reduce immigrant eligibility for safety net health care and social services, and a few states have followed suit.

Read our latest Health Care in Motion to learn how these changes may affect access to health care services and public health moving forward.