Illegality and Healthcare: A Federalist Perspective

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With the contemporary rise of mass media, the historically disadvantaged status of the United States’ immigrant and undocumented populations has become increasingly well-known. Perhaps as a result thereof, both major political parties have utilized the United States’ dynamic immigration system as a scepter of justice in the nation’s ethical and political discourse. Despite the polarization that inter-party immigration controversies frequently beget, discussion of the mutually-reinforcing relationship between statutory immigration and healthcare subsidy exclusions is far more meager and thus the subject of our inquiry. Remaining cognizant of the imbricated relationship between the federal government and its state counterparts within the United States’ federalist system, we explore the economic and public health consequences of immigration and healthcare laws which deny many immigrants access to vital social services. As a product of these restrictive state and federal laws, we conclude that many immigrants not only lack meaningful access to primary care, vaccinations, and labor/environmental quality safeguards, but also that the inaccessibility of such social services has detrimental effects on the nation’s aggregate economic health and public health. In response to the deficiencies of the United States’ legal regime vís-a-vís immigration and healthcare, we offer three distinct categories of recommendations, each of which intends to support the economic success and public health security of the greater American populace.