John,

After years of advocacy from our friends in the immigrant rights movement, the Biden administration issued a proposed rule to lift Affordable Care Act restrictions and expand Medicaid eligibility for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

The significance of this cannot be overstated. Remember—these are the young people brought to this country as children, who have lived most of their lives here and contribute to their communities every day. After 11 years, DACA recipients could finally gain access to public health care options they have been kept out of.

This proposed rule is critical, as many DACA recipients experience harmful mental and physical health effects from living under constant attacks targeted towards themselves and the DACA program itself.¹

We’re joining our partners at United We Dream in supporting this critical rule change, and the public comment period ends later this month. Add your name in support and urge the Biden administration to implement its new rule that extends federal health care eligibility to DACA recipients.

We need to do this because the Biden administration must take into consideration public comments; we can’t be silent while opponents send in comments that seek to tear down the proposed rule.

Health care is a human right―regardless of a person's country of origin or immigration status. While we continue to fight to pass a pathway to citizenship through Congress, our fight can’t be successful without taking care of the mental and physical wellness of those directly impacted by harmful immigration policies.

We have the collective power to ensure that this rule expanding Medicaid and ACA eligibility to DACA recipients is implemented. Every member of our communities who qualifies deserves access.

We only have until June 23rd to make our voices heard. Join us in calling on President Biden and the Department of Health and Human Services to approve this new rule.

Thank you for all you do to support immigrant communities,

Dominique Espinoza
Outreach and Engagement Specialist, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ UndocuHealth Report: Mental Health and Wellbeing in the United We Dream Community