Almost immediately after the first government shutdown in seven years began, the Trump Administration filled the airwaves to spread a narrative that Democrats caused the gridlock by demanding free healthcare for “illegal aliens.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The battle for the narrative during a shutdown is crucial to both parties, and who the public blames can determine how long it lasts.
The shutdown began after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a stopgap funding measure on Tuesday night, a development that will result in widespread furloughs of federal workers and the shutdown of numerous federal agencies.
Read More: Republican and Democratic Lawmakers React to Government Shutdown as Blame Game Ensues
The gap between the two parties is primarily due to healthcare, specifically a Democratic demand to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for low- and middle-income Americans, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
But Republicans are eager to spread a different narrative.
Here are the facts.
False Claims
President Donald Trump’s leadership has maintained a standard message—that Democrats are looking to reinstate emergency healthcare to migrants in the U.S. without citizenship or green cards.
Trump pushed this message last week on Truth Social when he claimed that Democrats wanted to give “free healthcare” to immigrants, demonizing many of them as “VIOLENT CRIMINALS.”
After the shutdown began, Vice President JD Vance stepped into gear.
“Democrats spent years giving taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens and, as promised, President Trump put a stop to it,” Vance said on X on Wednesday. “Now, Senate Democrats are shutting down the government and holding the economy hostage because they want to reinstate those benefits for illegal aliens.”
Read More: A Government Shutdown Has Begun. Here’s How It Could Affect Your Life
Trump’s White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and his Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have pushed similar narratives.
“Senate Democrats are about to block a clean, routine government funding bill because it doesn’t give free healthcare to illegals,” Miller wrote, while Leavitt left nothing up for debate, saying that “Democrats shut down the federal government.”
The Facts
The Trump Administration’s central narrative is false. Although it is true that Democratic leadership is pushing back on the Republicans’ spending plan, the Democratic response does not include a demand for healthcare for immigrants without legal status. It does include a demand for Medicaid funding that was severely cut in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed earlier this year, as well as funding for the Affordable Care Act.
Read More: Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Put the ADA, and Americans with Disabilities, at Risk
Democratic leadership is seeking Republican compromise on healthcare policy in their spending bill, asking for increased spending to continue Obamacare subsidies and to reverse the deep Medicaid cuts implemented in the domestic tax cut bill.
Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Obamacare benefits and Medicaid. Only those with “qualified” immigration status have access to Medicaid, which includes those with legal permanent residence status, refugees, asylees, and several other groups. This means that not only are undocumented immigrants ineligible for these programs, but many of those with legal status are also ineligible because they are not on the “qualified” list.
The Democrats are asking to reverse a cut in funding for federal reimbursement hospitals can get for treating undocumented immigrants with an emergency medical condition, which they are required to do by law. Hospitals can be reimbursed by Medicaid for this emergency care, but comprehensive Medicaid coverage is not available to undocumented immigrants. Furthermore, according to the health policy research nonprofit KFF, less than 1% of total Medicaid spending was allocated to emergency Medicaid for undocumented immigrants in fiscal year 2023.
Beyond this, Democrats are seemingly even more concerned about extending subsidies under The Affordable Care Act (ACA), as the government is receiving warnings that allowing ACA subsidies to expire at the end of the year could have immense ramifications, kicking millions of people off of their healthcare, skyrocketing out-of-pocket insurance premiums, and premiums across the health insurance market are to increase drastically.
In 2025, 24 million individuals obtained their insurance through the ACA marketplace, and nearly all (93%) of these individuals utilized subsidies to help cover costs, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. They estimate that if Congress does not extend these subsidies, approximately 4 million people will lose their marketplace coverage and become uninsured.
Democrat Response
Democratic leadership has been clear in calling out the false narrative being pushed about healthcare for immigrants without legal status. Earlier this month, two Democratic leaders, Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Patty Murray, put forth a budget proposal to extend ACA subsidies, a proposal that did not include free healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
“It’s a total, absolute, F-ing lie,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told MSNBC on Morning Joe. “They’re afraid of the truth. They know that what they’ve done to health care has decimated health care for so much of America — 10s, 20s, 20 million Americans. And so, they’re trying to hide the truth.”
Senator Ruben Gallago, a Democrat from Arizona, reiterated Schumer’s points, writing on X that Vance “hates” the ACA so much he would rather shut down the government and raise premiums of Americans.”
He continued, “ACA tax credits don’t go to illegal immigrants.”
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