Posted on 03/06/24
| News Source: FOX45
Anapolis, MD - Mar. 6, 2024 - Maryland’s undocumented immigrants got one step closer Wednesday to accessing the state’s public healthcare exchange.
Dubbed the Access to Care Act, the proposed legislation seeks to change the definition of a “qualified resident” that may enroll in the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange.
"'Qualified resident’ means an individual, including a minor, regardless of immigration status,” the Access to Care Act reads.
During the bill’s initial Senate floor hearing Wednesday morning, Sen. John Mautz, R-Talbot County, proposed an amendment to bar undocumented immigrants with an active U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer from accessing Maryland's public healthcare exchange.
According to ICE’s website, individuals the federal immigration enforcement agency believes are “removable non-citizens” are issued a detainer when they have been arrested on criminal charges.
“The detainer asks the other [local] law enforcement agency to notify ICE before a removable individual is released from custody and to maintain custody of the non-citizen for a brief period of time so that ICE can take the custody of the person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody,” ICE’s website reads.
ICE detainers have been a controversial topic in Maryland for the past several weeks. At the end of February, Nilson Grandos-Trejo was arrested and charged for a Feb. 8 shooting that left a two-year-old dead. ICE confirmed Grandos-Trejo was