President Joe Biden’s administration may soon approve a request from Massachusetts to use Medicaid funds to house migrants, Axios reported Thursday.
The state of Massachusetts seeks to provide up to six months of housing assistance and other support for immigrant families and pregnant mothers through Medicaid, according to Axios. It is expected that the housing plan and other changes the state seeks to its Medicaid program would result in $2 billion in federal reimbursements, a Massachusetts health services spokesperson told the outlet. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Border Patrol Agents Arrest Five-Time Deportee Gang Member With Decades-Long Criminal History)
Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey met with officials at the White House last week to speak about the waiver request, a Healey spokesperson told Axios.
Healey is seeking to take pressure off of emergency assistance shelters in the state that are filled to capacity due to an influx in migrants, according to The Boston Herald. Some migrant families unable to procure shelter have been sleeping at Boston’s Logan Airport.
US President Joe Biden is greeted by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy (L) and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, as he disembarks Air Force One at Boston Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 5, 2023. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Commonwealth, like other states, has faced a recent influx of immigrants, including recent arrivals with an immigration status that entitles them to full Medicaid benefits,” Massachusetts wrote in a request to the Biden admin’s Health and Human Services (HHS) in October 2023.
Illegal immigration has skyrocketed under the Biden administration, with millions of migrants entering the southern border since 2021.
Border Patrol encountered roughly 1.6 million migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2021, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. There were more than 2 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2023.
CBP has encountered over 750,000 illegal immigrants at the southern border since the beginning of fiscal year 2024, according to federal data.
Former President Donald Trump and Biden are heading to the southern border Thursday to address the ongoing immigration crisis. Biden is heading to Brownsville, Texas, and Trump will visit Eagle Pass, Texas.
Healey and HHS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comments.
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