Biden reverses Trump order barring immigrants who cannot afford health care

President Biden on Friday revoked a 2019 proclamation signed by then-President Trump that prevented immigrants from obtaining visas unless they proved they could obtain health insurance or pay for health care.

Biden said in his own proclamation signed Friday afternoon that the October 2019 order “does not advance the interests of the United States.”

“My Administration is committed to expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare,” Biden’s proclamation states. “We can achieve that objective, however, without barring the entry of noncitizens who seek to immigrate lawfully to this country but who lack significant financial means or have not purchased health insurance coverage from a restrictive list of qualifying plans.”

Biden ordered leaders at the departments of State, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security to “review any regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions developed pursuant to” the 2019 proclamation and issue “revised guidance” as appropriate that reflects his own policy.

The action represented Biden’s latest effort to roll back a policy of the previous administration. It came minutes after the White House made public an executive order revoking the “National Garden of American Heroes” that Trump ordered built last year.