On Thursday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) responded to questions on whether migrants who were allowed into the country under the Biden administration would qualify for taxpayer-funded health care by saying, “It depends on the circumstance.” And “those people who have applied for asylum and are going through the process are here legally.”
Host Mimi Geerges asked, “Congressman, as you know, Republicans are accusing Democrats of trying to give government health care, Medicaid to illegal immigrants. Democrats are denying that that’s the case. However, there’s a large number of people that were paroled into the country under the Biden administration. Are they considered illegal immigrants to you, or would they, under the Democratic plan, and what the Democrats are trying to get out of this shutdown, be eligible for Medicaid?”
Schneider responded, “The simple answer is, unless you are here under legal authority, you do not have access to Medicaid. And what the Republicans are saying, well, no, if someone shows up at an emergency room, they will get care. That’s something entirely different. Under legislation called EMTALA that was passed decades ago, anyone who shows up to an emergency room, no matter where they’re from, no matter their status, no matter their health insurance, whether they have it or not, if they do have it, where it comes from, whether they have a job or don’t have a job, if they’re at an emergency room, they are going to get taken care of. That’s just the humane thing, that’s the American way of doing things. We take care of people who are in need. That amounts to, I believe, about .4, less than a half of a percent of the total expenditure on health care, and that’s what the Republicans are trying to use as the case. If you are not here legally, if you do not have authority to be here, you do not have access to Medicaid.”
Geerges followed up, “But going back to my original question about parolees that came in during the Biden administration, those are those that crossed the border, presented themselves to Border Patrol, I would assume got some sort of documentation or some sort of promise to appear later to an immigration judge, would those people be eligible for Medicaid?”
Schneider answered, “It depends on the circumstance. But someone who seeks asylum, whether they’re coming from the border in Mexico, they present themselves to an officer saying, I’m asking for asylum, some may be coming from Cuba, some may be coming from Russia, wherever the case may be, if they present to the United States for asylum, international law gives them the right to a hearing. And they then are given a status waiting for that hearing. The problem — and this is what we’ve been working on for a much longer time than just this current fiscal crisis — the problem is, our courts are backed up. Republicans have refused to work with Democrats to pass the comprehensive immigration reform we need, with border security, the two have to go hand in glove. There was a bill that passed the Senate in 2013, so, a dozen years ago, with a 68-32 majority, bipartisan, that never saw the light of day in the House. We’ve been working on this for decades. We need to address the issue. We need to make the process more efficient, more effective, so that when someone does apply for asylum, they can have a hearing within a matter of months or even weeks, rather than waiting the years as it is today. But those people who have applied for asylum and are going through the process are here legally.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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