Op-Ed: The Media’s Narrative-Serving Redefinition of ‘Illegal Immigrant’

Remember when Vice President Kamala Harris was the Biden administration’s border czar, but then the role became politically inconvenient while she was running for president, and so the media decided that it had never happened? Now another immigration-related retcon may be upon us.

The occasion is the war of words over the federal budget. Republicans accuse Democrats of wanting to grant health benefits to illegal immigrants, while Democrats and allied “fact-checkers” deny it. The quick backstory here is that some illegal immigrants have a quasi-status that gives them limited protection from deportation. Examples include Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and parole. Prior to passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), illegal immigrants with those statuses could access federal health benefits under certain circumstances. The OBBBA sunsets much of that access, but the Democratic budget would reinstate it. Therefore, it’s easy to see where Republicans get their talking point.

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[Read the whole thing at National Review.]