Biden unveils plan to give 100,000 illegal immigrants access to Obamacare if they entered the US as children

President Joe Biden plans to extend Obamacare to roughly 100,000 illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. 

The so-called 'Dreamers,' enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, are expected to enroll in the Afforidable Care Act's health insurance next year under a directive the Biden administration released Friday. 

The move took longer than promised to finalize and fell short of Biden's initial proposal to allow those migrants to sign up for Medicaid, the health insurance program that provides nearly free coverage for the nation's poor. 

Former President Donald Trump's campaign quickly lambasted the move calling it detrimental to 'Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and union workers' who have seen their 'jobs and public resources stolen by people who illegally entered our country.' 

'Thanks to Bidenomics, inflation continues to increase, job growth is slowing down, unemployment is at the highest level in two years, and more foreign-born workers are joining the labor force than native-born citizens. Yet Joe Biden continues to force hardworking, tax-paying, struggling Americans to pay for the housing, welfare, and now the healthcare of illegal immigrants,' said Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

President Joe Biden plans to extend Obamacare to roughly 100,000 illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children

Demonstrators in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protest in front of the Supreme Court in November 

Dreamers will begin to access the tax breaks on November 1, days before the presidential election.  

'I'm aproud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country and committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed,' the president said in a statement Friday. 

The action opens the marketplace to any participant in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, many of whom are Latino.

Xavier Becerra, the nation's top health official, said Thursday that many of those migrants have delayed getting care because they have not had coverage.

'They incur higher costs and debts when they do finally receive care,' Becerra told reporters on a call. 'Making Dreamers eligible to enroll in coverage will improve their health and well-being and strengthen the health and well-being of our nation and our economy.'

The administration's action changes the definition of 'lawfully present' so DACA participants can legally enroll in the marketplace exchange.

Then-President Barack Obama launched the DACA initiative to shield from deportation immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as children and to allow them to work legally in the country. 

However, the 'Dreamers' were still ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having a 'lawful presence' in the U.S.

The administration decided not to expand eligibility for Medicaid for those migrants after receiving more than 20,000 comments on the proposal, senior officials said Thursday. 

Those officials declined to explain why the rule, which was first proposed last April, took so long to finalize. 

The delay meant the migrants were unable to enroll in the marketplace for coverage this year.

At one point, there were as many as 800,000 people enrolled in DACA at one time, though now that figure is roughly 580,000. 

The administration predicts only 100,000 will actually sign up because some may get coverage through their workplaces or other ways. 

Some may also be unable to afford coverage through the marketplace.

Other classes of immigrants, including asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status, are already eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplaces of the ACA, Obama´s 2010 health care law.

The president last year also unveiled a regulation that was aimed at fending off legal challenges to DACA; Trump tried to end it, and it has bounced back and forth in federal court. 

Last fall, a federal judge said the current version can continue at least temporarily.

'President Biden and I will continue to do everything in our power to protect DACA, but it is only a temporary solution,' Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. 'Congress must act to ensure Dreamers have the permanent protections they deserve.'