“Democrats threaten to close the whole government because they want to give hundreds of billions of dollars in social benefits to illegal foreigners.”
Vice-president JD Vance in an interview of September 28, 2025, Fox News
While the United States was heading for a government closure, the Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats to force closure because it wants to give access to immigrants to the United States illegally.
“Democrats threaten to close the whole government because they want to grant hundreds of billions of dollars in unlawful foreigners,” said vice-president JD Vance on September 28 on “Fox News Sunday”.
President Donald Trump, Chamber of Chamber Mike Johnson and Republican Congress members repeated this line.
It’s bad.
Democrats refused to vote for the resolution of Republicans to extend the deadline for federal spending, and their position depends in part on health care expenses. Democrats want to extend the subsidies of the Acting Accession Act of the Covid Pandemic Age which should expire at the end of the year and make the Medicaid cuts back in the bill of tax and expenditure that Trump signed this summer.
The Democrats’ proposal would not give health care to immigrants who lack legal status; This population is already largely unacceptable to health care funded by the federal government. Instead, the proposal would restore access to certain health care programs for legally present immigrants who will lose access under the republican law.
The White House did not respond to the request for politicians for this verification of the facts. Vance addressed criticism of his subject of discussion in another interview by saying that it had been included in the democrats’ expenditure proposal. This is not the case.
A white house x story followed screenshots of the democratic proposal repealing a section of the republican law entitled “Eligibility Extraterrestrial Medicaid”. It is important to know that these changes would not give Medicaid access to immigrants who lack legal status.
Vance again defended his statement at a press conference on October 1 of the White House, saying that former president Joe Biden “renounced illegal immigration status” who helped migrants access federal aid. It is important to note that many people have granted legal status through humanitarian conditional release programs or temporary protection status are not automatically eligible for Medicaid; TPS recipients are not eligible, and many people who have entered the United States on humanitarian conditional release must wait five years before accessing it.
The Trump administration has ended humanitarian speech and temporary protection status for many people, which makes them unacceptable to Medicaid plans and health market on affordable care law.
We did not find any evidence that the Democrats wanted to spend “hundreds of billions” of costs to ensure migrants with an illegal presence.
Immigrants without legal status are already inadmissible
Most federal dollars on health care cannot be spent on health care for people in the United States who lack legal status. They cannot register for Medicaid or Medicare, and they are not eligible for the purchase of health care coverage via the market for the affordable care law. A small MedicaID program reimburses hospitals for non -insured emergency care, which may include immigrants in the country without authorization but which are not exclusive to them.
States such as California and Illinois have expanded the coverage of Medicaid for people regardless of their immigration status, and states pay for this. Federal law has already prohibited states from using federal money for these programs. An earlier version of the Republican Spending Act would have penalized these states by retaining funding, but this provision has not lasted.
Residents of the country without authorization could receive health care funded by the federal government in emergency cases; In these situations, hospitals must provide care even if a person is not provided or in the country illegally. The Medicaid emergency covers hospital care for immigrants who would be eligible for Medicaid without their immigration status. The republican tax law and expenses has reduced the amount that hospitals can receive for emergency immigrant care.
Most Medicaid emergency expenses are used for childbirth. In total, he represented less than 1% of the total medical expenses during the 2023 financial year, according to KFF, a non -profit organization of health information which includes Kff Health News.
GOP Law Limited Care Access for immigrants with legal status
The republican tax law and expenses has made several changes to the eligibility for health care to immigrants living in the country with permission. 1.4 million legal immigrants are expected to lose their health insurance, according to a KFF analysis of the Office Budget of Congress.
From October 2026, the law will restrict the eligibility for Medicaid and the health insurance program for children to legally permanent residents, people of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia or the Palau who legally resident in the United States under an international agreement and certain Cubans and Haitians.
Previously, a large group, described as “qualified non-citizens”, was eligible for Medicaid and its related children’s health insurance program, known as chip, including refugees and granted asylum.
Some immigrants eligible for Medicaid and Chip, such as legal permanent residents, are required to wait five years before accessing services.
The law has also limited admissibility to the market for the affordable care law to the same group eligible for Medicaid and Chip from January 1, 2027. Previously, those described as “legally present” were eligible. This group included “qualified non-citizens” eligible for Medicaid and people with short-term statutes, such as temporary protected status or international students.
Beneficiaries of the delayed action program for children arrivals, known as DACA, for immigrants who entered the United States without authorization, children were previously eligible for the coverage of the affordable care law and their subsidies. They are not eligible because a Trump administration rule entered into force in August.
The Democrats’ proposal would restore access to legal immigrants
The budgetary proposal of Democrats on September 17 would partly extend the subsidies of the Act respecting affordable care and would make billions of republican cuts back in Medicaid and other health programs.
The change would put the coverage of Medicaid, Chip and affordable Care Act available to all legal immigrants who were previously eligible, such as refugees and people who obtained asylum.
The democratic proposal would not widen the admissibility to health care programs funded by the federal government to immigrants without legal status.
Vance said democratic policies “would give hundreds of billions of dollars in health care for illegal foreigners” and that the White House has not offered its source for this figure. When Johnson was in a hurry to support a similar subject of discussion, he referred to the Congress Budget Budget Office. KFF analysis of CBO estimates revealed that the provisions of the republican law linked to legal immigrants would reduce federal expenses of $ 131 billion; This projection did not include an estimate for people without legal status.
Our decision
Vance said: “Democrats threaten to close the whole government because they want to grant hundreds of billions of dollars in health care benefits to illegal foreigners.”
In the United States, immigrants are largely unacceptable to health care programs funded by the Federal Medicare and Medicaid government, and they cannot request coverage on the affordable care law or to request subsidies.
The budget proposal for Democrats would not change that.
Democrats wish to restore access to certain health care programs to legal immigrants who will lose access under the Republican Taxes and Expenditure Act – among other measures aimed at making insurance plans for the care for care and affordable care easier to keep.
Their proposal would not illegally grant the benefits supported by the federal government to people in the United States because they did not have access to it in the first place. The small amount of funding designated for the Medicaid urgency reimburses hospitals which provide emergency care to immigrants who would be eligible for Medicaid without their immigration status. Finally, we did not find evidence of the affirmation of Vance that the Democrats want “hundreds of billions” in benefits for the health of migrants in the country illegally.
We assess the false declaration.
Our sources
Fox News, “JD Vance Slams” apartments “of claims on the indictment of Comey:” Leed under Strea “, September 28, 2025.
The White House, “President Trump offers an ad”, on September 30, 2025.
President Donald Trump, Truth Social Post, September 29, 2025.
Bill of the American House of Representatives, accessed October 1, 2025.
Congressional Budget Office, “Distributional Effects of Public Law 119-21”, August 11, 2025.
Politifact, “Newsom illegally defended Medicaid for immigrants in California. He now wants to reduce it ”, on May 16, 2025.
KFF, “provisions on health in the federal budget reconciliation bill of 2025”, July 8, 2025.
KFF, “potential impacts of budget reconciliation of 2025 on the health coverage of families of immigrants”, June 17, 2025.
KFF, “key facts on the health coverage of immigrants”, January 15, 2025.
KFF, “1.4 million immigrants legally present should lose health coverage due to the 2025 tax and budget law, September 25, 2025.
American citizenship and immigration services, “Information for safeguard users: Cuban Haitian entrants”, accessed October 1, 2025.
Citizenship and immigration services of the United States, “status of citizens of the freely associated states of the federated states of micronesia and the information sheet of the Republic of the Marshall Islands”, consulted on October 1, 2025.
Healthcare.gov, “Cover for legally present immigrants”, accessed October 1, 2025.
Federal Register, “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Marketplace Integrity and Affairs ”, June 25, 2025.
Kff Health News is a national editorial hall that produces in -depth journalism on health issues and is one of the main KFF operating programs – an independent source of independent research, survey and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Use our contents
This story can be republished for free (details).
