Neera Tanden (10:11)
There has been a question that many Republicans have been asking how many illegal immigrants are actually receiving access to Medicaid benefits? Now if you ask the Democratic Party, they will tell you that there isn't a single illegal immigrant that is receiving Medicaid benefits. Insert a brilliant move by Texas Representative Wesley Hunt. He's now demanding data from the New York governor over how many of the state's estimated 670,000 illegal immigrants are actually receiving access to those Medicaid benefits that Democrats say, well, it's not happening at all. Hunt, a Republican, decided to just straight up ask the question directly to the governor on Monday, raising questions about how the Empire State has leveraged waivers to actually allow its Medicaid program to operate differently from federal standards and mandates. Governor Hochul is required to report this information to the federal government. So the question is simple. Will she comply or continue to harbor lawbreakers while putting the health care of law abiding citizens at risk? Hunt said in a statement to the New York Post. This is what Democratic leadership looks like. Open borders benefits for illegal aliens and betrayal of the people they're supposed to be representing, the American people. Now, there is an estimated 1.4 million people, quote, whose citizenship, nationality or satisfactory immigration status is not verified and they are potentially being covered by Medicaid programs in various states. That coming now from the Congressional Budget Office. I'll have more on that in a moment. But one study from the liberal leaning Fiscal Policy Institute cited by Congressman Hunt found that There are some 670,000 illegal immigrants in the Empire State. In fact, it is now about 5% of the population. New York has benefited from section 1115 waivers which allows it to experiment and deviate from federal standards in its implementation of Medicaid, a program that provides health insurance to 70 million low income Americans. And now the question is how many illegals? A spokesperson for the governor quickly fired back at Congressman Hunt and argued that he should have focused on opposing the one big beautiful bill act over its Medicaid reforms instead of targeting New York, saying if Representative Hunt were truly concerned about the health and well being of his constituents, he should have directed his focus to voting against the big ugly bill which will invoke irreparable damage to Medicaid programs nationwide, including in his home state of Texas. Yet again, you may notice that the spokesperson for the governor did not answer the question how many illegal immigrants are receiving benefits? This is just another pitiful attempt, the governor's office went on to say, to divert attention from Republican actions to eliminate health care for 1.5 million New Yorkers and deny food security access to millions of seniors and children. You'll notice in that statement, yet again the governor of New York refusing to answer the question, how many illegal immigrants are taking government benefits? Now, state officials have told the New York Post that, quote, most undocumented individuals are not eligible for full Medicaid coverage. Now notice the words they used. Most undocumented individuals are not eligible for, quote, full Medicaid coverage. By the way, that statement would also be true for most American citizens are not eligible for full Medicaid coverage and that the small group that is enrolled in the state's program has not benefited, they claim, from federal dollars. Now, New York also claimed that spending was unrelated to the 1115 waivers. Well, then why would the governor of New York not answer the simple question that was put to her by Wesley Hunt? Now, Hunt noted that the Biden administration had rejected the use of those waivers for states like South Carolina, Arizona and other states. The Texas Republican stress that the waivers were not intended to allow illegal immigrants to benefit American tax dollars going for their health care coverage. Now the Biden administration allowed and even encouraged the use of these 1115 waivers to extend Medicaid to undocumented immigrants, something that Democrats are now claiming never happened and despite federal law actually prohibiting them from receiving these benefits, hunt wrote in a letter to Hochul on Monday. Now, back in February, President Trump also signed an executive order that directed his administration to ensure and a maximum extent possible that no taxpayer funded benefits go to unqualified aliens. That order pointed to existing law such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation act of 1996, which generally blocks illegal immigrants from getting federal benefits from taxpayers. The Texas Republican also cited concerns about New York's green light law, which permits all state residents, regardless of immigration status, to get driver's licenses. Now the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against that law, arguing that it hamstrings federal enforcement of immigration law. Hunt argued it could help illegal immigrants get access to taxpayer funded benefits, using the driver's license to gain that access. And to address these concerns, Hunt now demanded that Hochul conduct a review of its Medicaid enrollment base on Social Security numbers and release those findings to the public, saying this New Yorkers deserve transparency, accountability and adherence to law in the administration of public health programs, policies that divert limited resources away from lawful recipients American citizens not only violates federal standards, they also destroy public trust and threaten the sustainability of programs designed to serve our most vulnerable American citizens. Now Hunt has also drawn speculation over recent weeks that he may vie for Senator John Cornyn's seat in the Senate in Texas in the 2026 midterms. And this could very well be one of those points that he would campaign on. Now let me say one other thing about this. We deserve answers. The American people as taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going and if it is being diverted to 670,000 illegal immigrants in the Empire State, yes, about 4 1/2% of its population. One other thing that I think is also a point that needs to be made. You notice that Democrats did not deny in any of the statements coming from the governor's office that illegal immigrants are receiving benefits. And they word it carefully to say, well, some may, but most aren't and most aren't receiving full benefits. Well, that also goes for the same with the American citizen base that are eligible for Medicaid benefits as well. It is supposed to help the weakest, the least, the poorest and those that are the most in need. Yet many Americans do not qualify for full benefits. So why are we giving those benefits to illegal immigrants. That's the question every American should be asking.
