TOPEKA – (June 23, 2023) Today, Attorney General Kris Kobach joined a coalition of 16 states in challenging a proposed U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that would allow some illegal aliens to receive Obamacare. The coalition of attorneys general, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, urged HHS to withdraw the proposed rule pending judicial review.

“The Biden administration is seeking to flagrantly violate federal law by providing Obamacare benefits to illegal aliens. This is one more example of the administration willfully attacking the rule of law in immigration,” Kobach said.

The attorneys general oppose the proposed rule because federal law prohibits deferred action recipients from receiving federal public benefits. The attorneys general also argue that deferred deportation recipients lack lawful immigration status under the Immigration Nationality Act.

“Aliens granted deferred action, including those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)… are not included with Congress’s definition of ‘qualified alien,’ nor do they fall within an exception to the prohibition on public benefits,” the comment letter reads. “…Indeed, Congress broadly prohibited non-qualified aliens from receiving any federal public benefit ‘not withstanding any other provision of law.’”

Kansas led the coalition joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Read the public comment here.