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The Facts about the Affordable Care Act and Immigration Enforcement

December 3, 2014 at 1:05 PM ET by Alejandro Mayorkas, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
Summary: 
The ability to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace provided by the Affordable Care Act is open again. The deadline to enroll for coverage starting January 1, 2015 is December 15, 2014, and the deadline to enroll for coverage for the rest of 2015 is February 15, 2015.

The ability to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace provided by the Affordable Care Act is open again.  The deadline to enroll for coverage starting January 1, 2015 is December 15, 2014, and the deadline to enroll for coverage for the rest of 2015 is February 15, 2015. 

In this period of open enrollment, it is important to remind the public of a message that we have delivered before:

We have heard that some Americans who are eligible to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace are reluctant to do so because they fear that the information they provide on their health coverage applications will be shared with immigration authorities and used to deport their undocumented family members.  This is not true.

Since October 2013, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or “ICE,” as the agency is commonly known) has had a policy that states that the information you present on your application to enroll for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will not be the basis for pursuing an immigration enforcement action.  This policy remains in effect.  The policy is available, in English and in Spanish, on ICE’s public website; it can be found here.   A policy like this is not new, as we have issued similar guidance when it came to the information provided for the 2010 Census and after natural disasters that impacted immigrant communities.

No one in America who is eligible should be afraid to apply for health coverage because they have a family with mixed immigration status.   Enrolling in health coverage – and using the health insurance that this important law extends to eligible individuals – will not prevent your loved ones who are undocumented from getting a green card in the future or put family members who do not yet have a green card at risk.  

We all deserve the security and the peace of mind that comes from having health coverage that’s there for us – that we can count on when we need it most   The Obama Administration is doing everything we can to make sure we reach as many of those who are eligible to enroll as possible. I encourage eligible individuals to go to HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov to check out their options and enroll.