Earlier this month, the Trump administration signed a proclamation requiring individuals seeking immigrant visas to show proof of health insurance coverage or the financial means of paying for healthcare before entering the United States. The rule was scheduled to take effect on Sunday, but activists are always able to find a judge willing to block the president. On Sunday, they found him. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon granted a preliminary injunction preventing the rule from taking effect.
The judge has granted our petition to put a Tenporary Restraining Order on the proposed Health Care Ban!
— Latino Network (@latnet_PDX) November 2, 2019
The TRO will be in effect for 28 days starting TODAY.
The federal lawsuit was filed in Portland, Oregon, and claims the healthcare requirement prevents foreign family members of Americans from moving to the United States to be with their families.
Justice Action Center senior litigator Esther Sung told WQAD News 8 "The ban would separate families and cut two-thirds of green-card-based immigration starting tonight, were the ban not stopped.”
But if two-thirds of green-card-based immigrants have no means of paying for their healthcare, it proves exactly why the Trump administration issued the proclamation in the first place.
The proclamation explains how unfair it is for American taxpayers, already struggling to afford their own healthcare, to be further burdened by immigrants who can't afford their own healthcare.
"While our healthcare system grapples with the challenges caused by uncompensated care, the United States Government is making the problem worse by admitting thousands of aliens who have not demonstrated any ability to pay for their healthcare costs. Notably, data show that lawful immigrants are about three times more likely than United States citizens to lack health insurance. Immigrants who enter this country should not further saddle our healthcare system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs."
Trump won on a clear mandate to fix our broken immigration system. Unlike the president, these judges controlling our immigration policies from the bench are not accountable to the American people.