Trump Administration Announces Bar on Immigrants Lacking Health Insurance
Donald Trump has issued a proclamation blocking the admission of individuals applying for immigrant visas who cannot demonstrate their ability to acquire health insurance within 30 days of their entrance into the United States. Any applicants who receive an immigrant visa after the order goes into effect on November 3rd need to demonstrate that upon entry, they will have insurance in place within a month before issuance of the visa. Individuals who were issued immigrant visas prior to November 3rd but are entering after that date are not covered by the proclamation.
Under the executive action, approved health insurance coverage includes coverage under any of the following plans:
- an employer-sponsored plan, including a retiree plan, association health plan, and coverage provided by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985;
- an unsubsidized health plan offered in the individual market within a State;
- a short-term limited duration health policy effective for a minimum of 364 days — or until the beginning of planned, extended travel outside the United States;
- a catastrophic plan;
- a family member’s plan;
- a medical plan under chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code, including coverage under the TRICARE program;
- a visitor health insurance plan that provides adequate coverage for medical care for a minimum of 364 days — or until the beginning of planned, extended travel outside the United States;
- a medical plan under the Medicare program; or
- any other health plan that provides adequate coverage for medical care as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services or his designee.
For individuals over the age of 18, Medicaid is not considered acceptable health insurance coverage.
The Trump Administration is basing the action on Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which permits the President to bar the entry of people deemed to be detrimental to the interests of the United States. This is the section of the law used to justify the travel ban. Critics are already arguing that extending this provision beyond physical security issues is impermissible and a court challenge is expected soon.
For more information, view the White House Proclamation.
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Migrants May Be Retroactively Affected by Asylum Ban, Contrary to Assurances Made When Implemented
Thousands of asylum seekers who agreed to wait in Mexico until their hearings to be held in the United States may now be ineligible for the benefit altogether. These migrants came to the U.S. to seek asylum earlier this year, and while they were given court dates, were required to return to Mexico to wait for their hearings. The Trump administration then implemented a regulation banning asylum for any individual who entered the United States through Mexico who was not a Mexican national. When the regulation was issued, the Administration assured individuals who were sent to Mexico to wait for their hearings would not be subject to the new ban, since they already had cases pending. At least one court where such cases are being heard, however, has seen judges and prosecutors treating those asylum seekers as an open question, contradicting the assurances made by the Trump administration guaranteeing those individuals’ protection from the new rule.
For more information, view the full article from ProPublica.
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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report Determines Trump Administration Policies Violate Civil Rights
A report authored by the United States Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan commission of the United States government, indicated that policies put forth by the Trump Administration appear to have violated the due process and civil rights of migrants and have been the driving force behind the unnecessary crisis taking place at the southern border. The highly critical report specifically identifies the Administration’s asylum policies, detention practices, and previously widespread separation of families as having violated the constitutional right to due process and the civil rights of the affected individuals.
The Trump Administration has, according the report, “implemented immigration policies that appear to violate constitutional due process rights and basic standards of medical and mental health care, and seemingly target migrants based on demographics including national origin, language status, and gender.” Citing statements from the American Psychiatric Association, the report found that the Administration’s policy of family separation led to, “widespread, long-term, and perhaps irreversible physical, mental, and emotional childhood trauma.
Vice Chairwoman Patricia Timmons-Goodson stated that though the commission initially sought to collect information for this report from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, those departments’ refusal to cooperate forced the commission to rely on a combination of public testimony, media reports, government reports, legal documents, and expert opinion. The resulting 200-page report details how the immigration policies implemented alongside Trump’s continuous inflammatory language aimed at immigrants can be viewed from the wider perspective of the history of the U.S. discriminating against non-European immigrants of color.
For more information, view the full article from U.S. World and News Report.
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