Migrants Get New Tax Credits

Approximately 100,000 migrants known as "Dreamers" will receive tax breaks due to the Biden administration allowing participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) to enroll in the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) health insurance.

The move, announced on Friday, will go into action this November, around the same time President Joe Biden is slated to face presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a 2020 election rematch.

It also comes as conservatives continue to admonish the Biden administration for rising levels of illegal immigration, with Democrats pointing the finger at GOP members in Congress for not supporting a more robust federal policy framework.

The so-called Dreamers who enroll in the ACA are intended to receive tax breaks. Newsweek reached out to the White House and Health and Human Services (HHS) via email for specifics.

The White House said enrollees may qualify for financial assistance in order to purchase health insurance, saying that four out of five current ACA consumers have found a plan for less than $10 a month. Millions are claimed to have saved an average of about $800 a year on their premiums.

Read more: Compare the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts to Grow Your Savings

One tax break could come in the form of the premium tax credit (PTC), a refundable credit that according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) aids eligible individuals and families by covering premiums obtained through the health insurance marketplace.

Tax credits are based on the income estimate and household information put on marketplace applications, according to Healthcare.gov. They are partially based on federal poverty levels.

Applicants in all states with an income between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level qualify. Those with an income at or below 150 percent of that level may qualify to enroll in or change marketplace coverage through a special enrollment period.

Those who use more advance payments of the tax credit than they qualify for based on their final yearly income must repay the difference when they file their federal income tax returns. And those who use less PTC than qualified for will get the difference as a refundable credit when filing.

Read more: Best Place for Your Money: CD vs. High-Yield Savings Account

PTC eligibility was expanded during the 2021 and 2022 tax years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the passing of the American Rescue Plan, eliminating the rule that a taxpayer with household income above 400 percent of the federal poverty line could not qualify.

President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden created the DACA policy in 2012, allowing certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children to receive protection from deportation and authorization to work legally.

This new directive does not allow DACA recipients to apply for Medicaid.

"On Day One of my administration, I sent a comprehensive immigration reform plan to Congress to protect Dreamers and their families," Biden said in a statement. "Only Congress can provide Dreamers permanent status and a pathway to citizenship. Congress must act."

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra also praised the move, saying on X, "Dreamers are Americans, plain and simple."

"And like all other Americans, @POTUS wants to ensure they get the health care they need, and the peace of mind that comes with it," he added.

But the Trump campaign says the move is based on the sitting president's economic failures, blasting "Bidenomics" in a statement on Friday.

"Thanks to Bidenomics, inflation continues to increase, job growth is slowing down, unemployment is at the highest level in two years, and more foreign-born workers are joining the labor force than native-born citizens," said Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the campaign.

"Yet Joe Biden continues to force hardworking, tax-paying, struggling Americans to pay for the housing, welfare, and now the healthcare of illegal immigrants. This is unfair and unsustainable, and Joe Biden's handouts for illegal immigrants are especially devastating to Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and union workers who are forced to watch their jobs and public resources stolen by people who illegally entered our country."