Minnesota’s budget deal threatened over plans to undo health care for undocumented adults

Exactly eight years ago, Deiu Do’s father died, having struggled to get health care until “it was too late.”

On Friday, the daughter of Mexican and Vietnamese immigrants urged a crowd gathered at the Capitol to call lawmakers and press them to oppose an “unacceptable” budget deal that revokes access to health care for adult undocumented immigrants.

“Instead of being with my family, instead of being able to mourn his death and his life,” she said, “I’m ... advocating for my community.”

The protest was the latest blowback threatening to upend a $67 billion budget agreement struck Thursday by Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota legislative leaders. Two dozen DFL lawmakers in both the House and Senate have said they won’t vote for a bill that strips away immigrants’ access to health care, and activity at the Capitol on Friday slowed publicly as lawmakers met about the change behind closed doors.

Undocumented children would remain eligible for coverage under the state-funded health program, but coverage for adults would end Dec. 31.

The decision still faces approval from the full Legislature, which is closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans made the change a top priority in budget negotiations, pointing to surging enrollment since the program started in January. They said the costs could balloon at a time when the state is facing a projected deficit in coming years.

Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Ferguson Falls, said allowing undocumented immigrants to enroll in healthcare made Minnesota “a magnet for those who broke the law to enter our country.”

“We should not be incentivizing illegal immigration to Minnesota,” he said.

The Department of Human Services says only a fraction of the undocumented individuals enrolled in the program have filed claims, costing the state $3.9 million since the start of the year. That’s more than lawmakers expected, though not as much as Republicans claimed. Roughly a quarter of enrollees in the program are children, according to DHS.

Democrats inside and outside the Capitol criticized the budget deal.

Protesters Friday held signs that read, “Any budget written in blood is evil,” and “Hey, GOP! What happened to ‘all lives matter?’”

Nathan Roberts, who serves at First Lutheran Church in Columbia Heights, said everyone deserves access to health care.

Roberts said it’s heartbreaking “as a faith leader, to tell people that you know and that you love that they may be the victim of a political deal.”

Rep. Esther Agbaje, DFL-Minneapolis, said she had an outpouring of messages from constituents Thursday night.

“There are a lot of people working to still do everything that they can to make sure that we can keep this program,” she said.

Minneapolis City Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai chastised her party’s legislative leaders on social media, calling it despicable to strike a deal with Republicans on the issue.

“It’s unconscionable that our DFL leaders decided 20,000 Minnesotan immigrants are disposable in their $67 billion budget,” she said.

Friday’s protest featured faith leaders who read testimonies from undocumented immigrants who had received treatment through MinnesotaCare. Eliot Howard, a pastor in the United Church of Christ, read a statement from Emilio, who contracted COVID-19 in 2020 as an essential worker.

Howard read that Emilio survived blood poisoning, lost a kidney and still struggles with lingering symptoms. Emilio’s statement noted essential workers were called “heroes” during the pandemic.

“We don’t want to be heroes. We want dignity,” Howard read. “We cannot be essential workers without access to health care.”

Melissa Gonzalez, a pastor at Tapestry Richfield, read for Gaby, a factory worker who lost her right foot to diabetes that she couldn’t consistently manage without health insurance.

“Sometimes my coworkers pitched in so I could afford my insulin, but most of the time I rationed it or stopped taking it because I had no health insurance.”

Since becoming eligible for MinnesotaCare earlier this year, she has been able to access medical care consistently for the first time in 20 years.

As Walz and legislative leaders announced the budget deal Thursday, members of the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus protested, banging on the doors to the governor’s reception room chanting, “Don’t kill immigrants!”

Two dozen members of the caucus later gathered for a news conference where they declared they would not vote for the deal if it cuts off MinnesotaCare coverage for undocumented immigrants.

“We’re talking about tens of thousands of individuals that would lose access to healthcare at the end of this calendar year,” said Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope. “We’ve got individuals who are currently receiving cancer treatments, dialysis care.”

Caucus members were careful not to criticize their fellow DFLers, instead they lambasted Republicans, who they characterized as working in lockstep with the Trump administration and willing to harm vulnerable people who depend on the care.

Agbaje said Friday that the demonstration showed the decision to end MinnesotaCare for undocumented adults will affect “real people who could die if this is taken away.”

“Unfortunately, I think our colleagues on the other side...are so focused on cruelty,” Agbaje said, “so focused on certain people deserve things and other people don’t.”

Minnesota lawmakers have just a few days before the May 19 deadline to adjourn the regular legislative session. Leaders have conceded a special session is likely needed to finish the work.

Accusations from Republicans members are already flying that one progressive lawmaker, Senate Higher Education Chair Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, is refusing to hold meetings to finish work on the state budget over anger about the health care change.

“Time will tell if Democrats are going to stop a state budget from happening until they get full health care for those here illegally,” Rep. Marion Rarick, R-Maple Lake, posted on X.

Janet Moore of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.