BOISE, ID – The ACLU of Idaho on Thursday sued Idaho government officials over a new state law that will prevent unauthorized immigrants from accessing publicly funded assistance.
The new law, approved by the Idaho Legislature this year through House Bill 135, takes effect on Tuesday. It will cut the few publicly funded services that unauthorized immigrants can receive in the state.
ACLU’s lawsuit in federal court seeks to stop Idaho from applying the expanded immigration status check requirement for HIV treatment, alleging the new state law is unconstitutional by violating equal protection, conflicts with federal laws and even denies federal funds to people eligible under federal law.
The lawsuit requests temporary judicial blocks — saying without the care, patients could die.
“Nobody benefits from barring access to life-saving HIV medication,” Dr. Abby Davids, an Idaho doctor who is part of the lawsuit and works at Full Circle Health, said in a statement. “Both for individual patients and for the health of our community as a whole, all people living with HIV need to be able to access consistent care and treatment. Infections like HIV do not infect people based on their immigration status, and treatment should not be limited by legal status, either.”
Lawsuit filed against Idaho Health and Welfare, attorney general, other officials
Joined by the National Immigration Law Center, and the private law firms Nixon Peabody LLP and Ramirez-Smith Law, ACLU is representing five immigrants and a doctor in Idaho. The lawsuit seeks class-action status to protect all people who are and could receive treatment through the federally funded programs.
ACLU’s lawsuit is against Idaho health officials, including Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Alex Adams, along with Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador.
“We are still reviewing the lawsuit and will respond in court after we have had a chance to fully review the complaint and other documents filed,” Idaho Attorney General Office spokesperson Damon Sidur told the Idaho Capital Sun on Friday.
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare spokesperson AJ McWhorter declined to comment, saying the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
In a news conference Friday, ACLU of Idaho Legal Director Paul Carlos Southwick called the lawsuit a start. But he said the group learned about, and plans to sue over, another program that Health and Welfare plans to apply the new immigration check law to — the food assistance program for Women, Infants and Children, called WIC.
“We’ve essentially been having to pull this info from (the health department)” and service providers, Southwick said.
Idaho health department hasn’t said what immigration statuses will be approved, lawsuit alleges
For people who apply for public assistance benefits in Idaho, state agencies are largely required to verify lawful presence.
But the new law will remove some exceptions for certain services, requiring state agencies to verify someone’s immigration status for access to health assistance for immunizations, communicable disease testing and treatment, prenatal and postnatal care, and food assistance for dependent children.
Emergency services will remain exempt from the immigration status verification requirement under the new law.
The lawsuit alleges the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has not responded to the suing doctor’s questions about what immigration statuses would be considered “lawfully present.”
One of the immigrants suing Idaho officials, identified only as K.P. in the lawsuit, fears that her employment authorization document and pending asylum application “are not sufficient to satisfy the immigration status verification requirements” under the bill.
Because of treatment through Full Circle Health, her HIV is undetectable — and she won’t transit the virus to people who don’t have it, the lawsuit says. When she was pregnant, her medication prevented her from transmitting HIV to her daughter, the lawsuit says.
Her next refill is scheduled for July 8 — a week after the bill takes effect.
Southwick, with ACLU of Idaho, said in a statement the new law is the second unconstitutional Idaho bill the group has sued over this year. A federal judge swiftly blocked an Idaho immigration enforcement law soon after it took effect — in response to an ACLU of Idaho lawsuit.
The public benefits bill “is designed to dehumanize our immigrant neighbors by denying them the basic necessities of life — medicine, food, and shelter. It subverts constitutional rights and interferes with federal regulation of immigration,” Southwick said. “… It is part of the state’s campaign to displace immigrant residents, which will separate families and inflict lasting trauma. The state’s actions are legally indefensible and morally wrong.”
This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.
