A plan to end healthcare insurance credits going to illegal immigrants in the U.S. is being supported by Trump allies and immigration hawks.
The ‘Verify First Act’ by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) would subsequently end American taxpayer-funded money going to illegal aliens in the form of healthcare insurance credits. The plan is being supported by NumbersUSA, a group which has staunchly advocated for Trump’s America First agenda.
“We applaud Rep. Lou Barletta for introducing the Verify First Act to ensure that illegal aliens cannot qualify for taxpayer-funded health insurance credits,” NumbersUSA Peter Robbio said in a statement. “We are grateful that the Ways and Means Committee and House Republican Leadership agreed to move this important bill forward.”
Since Obamacare’s enactment, illegal immigrants received more than $700 million in healthcare insurance credits by 2015, according to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
In Barletta’s plan, healthcare insurance recipients through the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would have their citizenship and immigration statuses verified by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Hard-working Americans and legal residents already are struggling to pay for their own health care,” Robbio continued. “There is simply no excuse for the Federal government to force them to subsidize health care for illegal aliens through taxpayer-funded credits.”
The Verify First Act is one of the only immigration-related bills that seems to be moving forward through the Congress which is in-line with Trump’s America First agenda.
For instance, Rep. Tom Cotton’s (R-AK) major legislation, the ‘RAISE Act,’ which would cut legal immigration by 50 percent to reduce the foreign competition American workers often must compete with, has yet to even move through the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Similarly, Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) ‘Birthright Citizenship Act,’ which would end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants,’ has yet to make it out of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.