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U.S. NEWS Thursday 31 OcTOber 2019

U.S. sued over health insurance rule for immigrant families

By AMY TAXIN merit-based system. second child and wants
A lawsuit Wednesday ac- Earlier this year, the admin- her husband to be there for
cused the Trump adminis- istration made sweeping the birth of their daughter.
tration of preventing Ameri- changes to regulations that Other plaintiffs in the law-
cans from bringing their for- would deny green cards suit are trying to bring their
eign spouses and parents to immigrants who use spouses to live with them
to live with them in the Unit- some forms of public assis- from Mexico and Germa-
ed States by requiring those tance, but the courts have ny. One woman is trying to
immigrants to prove they blocked that measure. bring her parents from Ni-
can afford health care be- Under the government's caragua and hasn't been
fore they get visas. visa rule, the required in- able to find them reason-
Seven U.S. citizens and a surance can be bought able health insurance.
nonprofit organization filed individually or provided by "It's an impossibility," said
the federal lawsuit in Port- an employer and it can Bless, the attorney. "There's
land, Oregon, over the rule be short-term coverage or been no standards pro-
that's set to take effect Sun- catastrophic. President Donald Trump speaks during a Medal of Honor Cer- vided to show: 'How much
day. It applies to people Medicaid doesn't count, emony for U.S. Army Master Sgt. Matthew Williams, currently as- money do I need to show
seeking immigrant visas and an immigrant can't get signed to the 3rd Special Forces Group, in the East Room of the that I can pay for my own
from abroad, not those al- a visa if using the Afford- White House, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, in Washington. care?'"q
ready in the country, and able Care Act's subsidies Associated Press
doesn't affect asylum seek- when buying insurance.
ers, refugees or children. The federal government
"Congress makes laws, the pays for those subsidies.
president executes them. The lawsuit seeks class-ac-
This is an egregious attempt tion status and to block the
to supercede and overturn rule from taking effect.
congressional will, not only The rule is a problem for Iris
in the immigration realm Angelina Castro, an Ameri-
but in the health care can citizen from Springfield,
realm," said Jesse Bless, di- Illinois. The former teacher
rector of federal litigation has applied for her hus-
at the American Immigra- band, a citizen of the Do-
tion Lawyers Association minican Republic, to ob-
who helped file the case. tain an immigrant visa to
A message seeking com- join her in the United States.
ment was sent to the State He's been preparing pa-
Department. perwork for a consular inter-
The rule is the Trump admin- view, but now they doubt
istration's latest effort to lim- he will qualify because she
it immigrant access to pub- quit her job after her son
lic programs while trying to got sick and now has state
move the country away health insurance, accord-
from a family-based immi- ing to the complaint.
gration system and into a She is pregnant with her