Harold Pease, Ph.D.
At one time Democrats were as vociferous against free healthcare for illegal aliens unlawfully crossing our borders as Republicans. Consider the following. Bill Clinton, “All Americans, … in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public services they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more, by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens.” (Bill Clinton’s State of the Union Address given on January 24, 1995).
Hillary Clinton promoted her husband’s healthcare reform as First Lady, “We do not think the comprehensive healthcare benefits should be extended to those who are undocumented workers and illegal aliens.” She stated that undocumented immigrants would not be eligible for his proposed plan. (The Washington Post, July 1, 2019) Adding, “We do not want to do anything to encourage more illegal immigration in this country. We know now that too many people come in for medical care as it is. We certainly don’t want them having the same benefits that American citizens are entitled to have” (X22 Ep. 3763b, Oct. 29, 2025, 51:38).
Barack Obama in a joint session of Congress Sept 9, 2009 emphatically stated, “There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” (“Providing Health Care for Illegal Immigrants: Understanding the House Health Care Bill,” by Robert Rector, Heritage Foundation, Nov. 24, 2009).
Five years later President Obama told Congress. “Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable — especially those who may be dangerous. That’s why, over the past six years, deportations of criminals are up 80 percent… But today, our immigration system is broken, and everybody knows it. Families who enter our country the right way and play by the rules watch others flout the rules. Business owners who offer their workers good wages and benefits see the competition exploit undocumented immigrants by paying them far less. All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America….”
Obama continued, “When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system. And I began by doing what I could to secure our borders. Today, we have more agents and technology deployed to secure our southern border than at any time in our history (Administration of Barack Obama, Address to the Nation on Immigration Reform, November 20, 2014).
Chuck Schumer, presently the lead Democrat in the US Senate, once held similar views. In archived records from the Congressional Record on August 1, 1996, then Congressman Chuck Schumer, made remarks about immigration and benefits. He stated that non-citizens receiving SSI had grown sharply (from ~128,000 in 1982 to ~738,000 in 1994) and said: “…a whole lot of people determine they can come to the United States … they come to the United States for a hand-out. What did they do? They received SSI and Medicaid. They received a lot of Government assistance. Thank you very much, taxpayer…” GovInfo
The idea of the American taxpayer, who could barely afford his own healthcare, funding healthcare benefits for 50% of his neighbors who pay no federal income taxes, AND those who unlawfully crossed our borders reflected a mainstream Democratic stance at the time thus national health insurance explicitly limited eligibility to U.S. citizens and legal residents. Both political parties agreed, hence the laws prohibiting were very clear—still are. Illegals, those coming into the county through the back door and illegally, were prohibited the benefits of the taxpayer. There is no free money. Socialism forces those who produce to fund those who do not.
But in the 2010’s progressives (socialists) saw votes from the masses attracted by free food, subsidized housing and healthcare. California began covering undocumented children under Medi-Cal (2016) and adults under certain income thresholds (2019–2024). Illinois, New York, and Washington followed with similar limited-coverage programs. By the end of the 20-teens a rhetorical and policy shift from exclusion to total inclusion for everyone was complete in the Democrat Party. Every one in the world could invade America and expect free or subsidized everything at the American taxpayer’s expense—and they came in the millions. Biden unconstitutionally let them in and they were instantly Biden Democrats. If America could not afford them they just printed more money. The escalating NATIONAL DEBT NOW OVER $38 TRILLION AT $328,220 PER TAX PAYER (the readers bill) would just be moved to the next generation.
The best visual of the above described transition was the Democratic presidential primary debate (June 27, 2019) where the moderator asked the candidates to raise their hands if their health-care plans would cover undocumented immigrants—the illegals. Of the 20 Democrat candidates seeking the presidency 19 raised their hand. Free healthcare—the world noticed and flooded in.
When Congresswoman Maxine Waters was recently asked by a reporter whether “Democrats are willing to shut down the U.S. government to prioritize healthcare for illegal immigrants,” she partially avoided the question by saying “Democrats are demanding healthcare for everybody;” which, of course, would include illegals (“Maxine Waters Gets TESTY When Asked if Democrats Are Shutting Down Government Over Healthcare for Illegals,” by Mike LaChance, Gateway Pundit, Sep. 30, 2025). Democrats now demand that American taxpayers foot the bill for healthcare for illegal immigrants world wide, even if doing so remains against the law and unconstitutional.
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution and a syndicated columnist on current events. Read his weekly columns at www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column #845
Help preserve our Republic while we still can by sharing this column.