Anticipating that President-elect Donald Trump's administration will not defend a federal policy to protect subsidized healthcare coverage for "Dreamers"—young adults who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program—, a group of Democratic attorneys general is working to protect the group.
The motion is being led by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and 13 other Democratic prosecutors have showed their support in the healthcare effort. Platkin submitted the request in U.S. District Court in Bismarck, North Dakota.
"Undermining Dreamers' access to healthcare not only hurts them and their American children, but it harms states like New Jersey too," Platkin said in a statement. "We will never back down from fighting for our Dreamers, no matter who is in charge in Washington," he added.
According to reports, if a judge allows the Democratic attorneys general to intervene in this case, it would create a legal battle between Democrats and Republicans.
Such a scenario has already started, with a group of 19 Republican attorneys general led by Kansas's Kris Kobach suing over a federal regulation adopted last year to allow an estimated 147,000 immigrants eligible for coverage through the Affordable Care Act's public marketplace.
The states were seeking to block "Dreamers" from access to tax breaks when they sign up for coverage and asserted that the ACA and a 1996 law prohibit U.S. government benefits rom flowing to immigrants who are in the country illegally.
After the Republican attorneys general raised the issue with the courts, a federal judge in North Dakota ruled in December that immigrants would not be allowed to obtain the coverage in the states that sued while the case moves forward.
Although they do count with some protections, "Dreamers" are still at risk of deportation. During his first term as president, Trump attempted to end the program, but the Supreme Court blocked the motion.
As he gets ready to take office, Democrats continue to raise their concerns about "Dreamers" despite Trump's recent comments about how he would look for ways to keep them in the U.S.
During an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump said he is willing to work with Democrats to address the future of "Dreamers."
"They were brought into this country many years ago," he continued. "Some of them are no longer young people, and in many cases they've become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases, they have small businesses. Some cases they might have large businesses, and we're going to have to do something with them."
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