Aggressive immigration enforcement discourages non-citizenparents from enrolling their citizen children in Medicaid

One of the key barriers to the success of the Obama Administration’s major health care reform, Obamacare, is that many of those who are eligible for public programs do not participate, especially among the immigrant community. In new research, Tara Watson finds that the relatively high rate of uninsurance among immigrants and their children can be explained by the effects of increased enforcement efforts against undocumented immigrants. She finds argues that undocumented migrants have been deterred from seeking health insurance for their children because of their fears that it might bring attention to their, and their relatives’, undocumented status.