Faith groups, unions and progressive elected officials are expected to flood the Minnesota Capitol on Friday to hold vigils and protest a budget deal that would revoke health care for undocumented adult immigrants.
The issue is threatening to unravel a one-day-old state budget deal, with some DFL lawmakers in both the House and Senate saying they won’t vote for a bill that strips away immigrants’ access to health care.
Those adults will lose access by Dec. 31, but the program will still cover children under 18 years old.
Democrats passed the measure in 2023, when they narrowly controlled the Legislature and governor’s office, but Republicans, who now hold a tie in the Minnesota House, pushed this session to undo the law.
“It’s despicable that State DFL leaders struck a deal with Republicans, who don’t control any branch of State government, to betray core values held by DFLers,” Minneapolis City Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai posted on social media. “It’s unconscionable that our DFL leaders decided 20,000 Minnesotan immigrants are disposable in their $67 billion budget.”
Republicans pointed to surging enrollment since the program started in January, arguing costs could balloon at a time when the state is already facing a projected deficit.
The Department of Human Services says only a fraction of undocumented individuals enrolled in the program have filed claims, costing the state $3.9 million since the start of the year. That’s more than lawmakers expected, though not as much as Republicans claimed in their efforts to repeal it. Roughly a quarter of enrollees in the program are children, according to DHS.
Gov. Tim Walz and top Democratic leaders announced a deal with Republicans in the House on Thursday to pass a $67 billion two-year budget that also addresses a projected $6 billion deficit in a future budget.
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