Authors: Dr. Brandon G. Wilson & Adriana Cadena

After assuring constituents that Medicaid would be protected, the Trump administration and a MAGA-led Congress passed a budget resolution that opens the door to nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Their strategy? The same one we’ve seen time and again: scapegoating immigrant families to justify gutting the health care safety net. 

Cutting Medicaid doesn’t just take away health coverage—it pushes families into debt, strains hospitals, and deepens racial and economic inequities. That’s not fiscal responsibility. That just ensures the rich get richer while the rest of us are left to fight for decent health care. 

People who are undocumented are not eligible for federally funded Medicaid coverage. Medicaid pays hospitals directly for lifesaving care like labor and delivery when a person who is undocumented faces a life-threatening emergency. It accounts for less than 0.5% of Medicaid spending, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Slashing it wouldn’t meaningfully reduce costs—it would simply deny care to moms and newborns. 

This isn’t fiscal responsibility – it’s political theater.

While MAGA lawmakers keep talking about “fraud,” government watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have shown that improper payments overwhelmingly stem from HMOs and health care corporations—not immigrant families. Instead of holding these corporations accountable, lawmakers are targeting people. One would deny Medicaid to all lawfully present immigrants. Another would penalize states—like California, New York, and Illinois—that use their own funds to extend care to immigrants. These proposals aren’t just cruel—they’re dangerous. 

Immigrant families make up more than a quarter of the U.S. population. They are also the parents, caregivers, and neighbors of millions of people—especially children. Immigrant families are, of course, also home to millions of U.S. citizen children and spouses, all of whom will suffer if a parent or partner cannot get the care they need. Denying care to these families would drive up racial and economic disparities in everything from infant mortality to chronic disease. It would also leave hospitals and states footing the bill for a crisis they didn’t create. This would be a giant step backwards from health justice. 

Losing access to care is just the beginning of a dangerous spiral. When coverage disappears, the bills don’t. Families go into debt. Hospitals absorb the costs. States scramble to fill the gaps. And communities are left more vulnerable to public health crises and economic shocks. 

There is growing recognition that this approach hurts everyone. Even members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference have warned that Medicaid cuts would harm people and health care providers in their districts. 

That’s why we need every member of Congress—not just to vote the right way, but to speak up. Too often, attacks on immigrant families are met with silence. And that’s exactly what emboldens the attacker. When leaders are vocal in defense of health care and immigrant communities, they shape the public conversation and help build the momentum needed to defeat these proposals. 

We don’t have to accept a system that prioritizes corporate profits over people’s health. We can reject scapegoating and division and demand a health care system that serves everyone—no matter where they’re from or what language they speak. 

It’s time for Congress to act—not just with their votes, but with their voices. The public is watching. Families are depending on it. 

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Dr. Brandon G. Wilson is the Senior Director of Health Innovation, Public Health, and Equity at Community Catalyst, a national non-profit organization dedicated to building a health system that is rooted in race equity and health justice, and a world where health is a right for all.

Adriana Cadena is the Director of Protecting Immigrant Families, a non-profit organization that brings together leading advocates for immigrants, children, education, health, anti-hunger, anti-poverty groups, and faith leaders to lay the foundation for a more inclusive future.