Federal healthcare programs should cover the children of illegal immigrants, a group of House Democrats says.
Democrats are asking the Obama administration to make healthcare available to children who are able to stay in the U.S. under the deferred-action immigration policy that President Obama announced earlier this year.
The policy — similar to the DREAM Act — allows many children of illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation, as long as they meet certain criteria.
A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), is now pressing the Obama administration to open federal healthcare programs to children who receive deferred action under Obama’s plan.
Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is now treated differently from other avenues for deferred action, the lawmakers said.
“There is no principled reason to treat differently young people who received deferred action through DACA and any other person who has received deferred action,” they wrote. “The unfairness of singling out DACA beneficiaries is also clear when you consider that many of them will now be studying alongside students with non-immigrant visas who have not been excluded from the ACA.”
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