Immigrants will soon have to prove they can afford health care when applying for U.S. visa

In what is considered the Trump administration's latest attempt to curb immigration to the United States, the White House issued a proclamation Friday saying it would require immigrants applying for a U.S. visa to prove they either have health insurance or can afford to cover their own health care costs before entering the country starting Nov. 3.

President Trump said the White House wants to "protect the availability of health care benefits for Americans" as "taxpayers bear substantial cost" in paying for medical expenses of people who lack health insurance. "Immigrants who enter this country should not further saddle our health care system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs," Trump said.

The proclamation would affect many immigrants, including those with family ties in the country, but it does not include noncitizen children of U.S. citizens or those who have been granted asylum, The Wall Street Journal reports. While the proclamation says it will allow migrants with the "financial resources to pay for reasonably foreseeable medical costs," it reportedly does not list a threshold for those resources. Either way, it is expected to be a major hurdle for low-income families seeking U.S. visas.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"It's a classic catch-22 for low-income immigrants," said Larry Levitt, executive vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "They're eligible for subsidized health coverage through the [Affordable Care Act], but applying for that subsidized coverage means they can't legally be in the country."

The proclamation is expected to face swift legal challenges, The Washington Post reports. Read more at The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.