Washington, D.C. – Today, the Biden Administration announced a new rule for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will include DACA recipients and other populations of immigrant youth. Shortly after DACA was announced in 2012, immigrant youth, young people of color, and allies fought to include DACA recipients in the ACA, an effort the Obama administration wrongfully denied. Thanks to the organizing of immigrant leaders like UWD, this new rule corrects this wrong, finally ensuring DACA recipients and other immigrant youth are not denied healthcare coverage because of their immigration status. Under this new rule, enrollment for DACA recipients will not occur until the next open enrollment period opens on November 1st.
Bruna Sollod, Senior Political Director of United We Dream Action, said:
“From winning DACA nearly 12 years ago to this latest rule to include DACA recipients in the Affordable Care Act, immigrant youth continue to show that when we fight for our communities, we win. These victories have never come easily, but we have refused to back down in the face of hardship or stray from our commitment to protect one another. When the original ACA was passed in 2010 with deliberate carve outs that excluded immigrants, young impacted people and our allies fought back tooth and nail to lead us to today’s victory. This is a special moment that illustrates the growing power of young Black, brown and immigrant organizers everywhere who are fired up to build a future that protects us all.
All around us, we see how MAGA Republicans want to block our vision for the future and deliberately put our lives on the line. From abortion bans and attacks on gender affirming care in places like Florida and Arizona, to efforts led by white supremacist officials in Texas to end DACA in the courts and enact mass deportation and racial profiling policies like SB4.
If the Biden Administration and Congress allow MAGA Republicans to successfully kill DACA without having first delivered permanent protections for our communities, they will be giving evil white supremacist officials the keys to strip away this newfound access to healthcare and our ability to live with our loved ones in the places we call home. We have a mandate to ourselves and our communities to block this from happening. This year, we must mobilize voters to the polls to elect pro-immigrant targets who we can push to deliver the expansive legislative victories that protect our fundamental rights over our bodies, our health, our safety and our futures.”