PerspectivePresident Trump Bars Uninsured Immigrants from the U.S.
On Oct. 4, President Trump issued a proclamation that bars otherwise qualified visa applicants from entry into the United States unless they are likely to obtain “approved health insurance” within 30 days of entry. The insurance test relies on 8 U.S.C.§ 1182(f), authorizing the president to bar entry of foreign nationals “detrimental to the interests of the United States”—the same provision that Trump used for his travel ban, which the Supreme Court upheld in Trump v. Hawaii. While the Supreme Court in Hawaii relied on the national security and foreign affairs rationale for the travel ban, the insurance test targets the very different issue of immigrants’ financial resources.
On Oct. 4, President Trump issued a proclamation that bars otherwise qualified visa applicants from entry into the United States unless they are likely to obtain “approved health insurance” within 30 days of entry. The insurance test relies on 8 U.S.C.§ 1182(f), authorizing the president to bar entry of foreign nationals “detrimental to the interests of the United States”—the same provision that Trump used for his travel ban, which the Supreme Court upheld in Trump v. Hawaii.
Peter Margulies writes in Lawfare that while the Supreme Court in Hawaii relied on the national security and foreign affairs rationale for the travel ban, the insurance test targets the very different issue of immigrants’ financial resources. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) specifically addresses this issue in 8 U.S.C.§ 1182(a)(4) by barring the admission of a foreign national who is “likely … to become a public charge.” If a challenge to the insurance test ensues and the case reaches the Supreme Court, the outcome will show whether the court believes § 1182(f) is a wide-ranging grant of power to the president to shape all immigration law to his liking, or a more cabined grant focusing on national security and foreign affairs.
Margulies writes:
Under the new insurance test, which will take effect on Nov. 3, “approved” plans include employer health insurance plans but cannot include a government subsidy—meaning that Obamacare recipients would be unable to sponsor otherwise qualifying relatives. The insurance test bars the entry of spouses, adult children, parents and siblings of U.S. citizens who would otherwise be eligible for visas, as well as the spouses of lawful permanent residents (LPRs). It does not bar the admission of refugees or the minor children of U.S. citizens and LPRs. However, the exemption of minor children highlights hardships created by the test. For example, a U.S. citizen or LPR without approved health insurance would be able to obtain a visa for his foreign national minor children but would not be able to obtain a visa for his wife, even though she is the mother of those children. The full impact of the insurance test will fall on families in which the primary breadwinner works for a salary at or just above the minimum wage: People in this group often lack employer health insurance plans.
