President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other federal officials claim that Democrats want to authorize health insurance for undocumented immigrants, a reason that led to the government shutdown after failing to reach an agreement.
However, Democrats are not pushing any reform to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in that regard, which already prevents undocumented immigrants in the United States from receiving federally funded health insurance.
“Democrats are going to paralyze the federal government and cause serious harm to American citizens because President Trump will not force taxpayers to fund free benefits for undocumented immigrants,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote on X on September 26. “Democrats are radical, and their priority is not America.”
This type of message has been repeated by other officials, including Vice President Vance, after a meeting with Democratic leaders in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries, from the House, and Senator Chuck Schumer, both from New York.
Even Stephen Miller, senior policy advisor at the White House, has spread the same message.
“Senate Democrats are about to block a simple and routine government funding bill because it does not include free healthcare for undocumented immigrants,” Miller wrote.
The president even posted an AI-generated video featuring Mexican imagery and music, which has been labeled racist, to claim that Democrats want greater protections for undocumented immigrants.
“Look, folks, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats. […] Even Latinos hate us. So we need new voters, and if we give free healthcare to all these illegal immigrants, maybe we’ll get them to support us and vote for us,” says the false message in a supposed voice of Schumer promoted by President Trump.
Senator Rubén Gallego (Arizona) even responded to one of Vice President Vance’s posts on X about the false claim.
“Undocumented individuals cannot access federal government health insurance—not Obamacare, Medicaid, or Medicare,” Gallego wrote on X. “Trump is shutting down the government based on a lie, just because he doesn’t want to lower premiums for the middle class.”
Schumer called Trump’s and his allies’ claims “a blatant lie.”
“Why do they keep insisting on this? Because they’re afraid to talk about the real issue: healthcare for American citizens,” Schumer warned.
What Is the Democrats’ Plan?
Democrats have a budget proposal to extend ACA subsidies before they expire at the end of the year, which would result in 15 million Americans losing health coverage, due to the new “big, beautiful” law passed by Republicans and signed by President Trump.
The only immigrants included in the ACA are subsidies for legally residing immigrants, meaning those who are eligible under existing laws. The Trump administration claims this includes all immigrants, including undocumented ones, which is false.
“Federal law prohibits the use of public funds to finance healthcare for undocumented immigrants,” Jeffries stated in a press conference on Monday. “Democrats have never suggested that we want to change federal law.”
If a budget agreement is not reached, several government services will shut down at the first minute of October 1, but the president even suggested that this could bring “benefits.”
“Government shutdowns can bring many benefits. We can eliminate a lot of things we didn’t want.”
Image: Opinion
