Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez addressed his party’s shifting position on providing free healthcare for illegal immigrants, during an interview on Fox News Sunday.
Referencing the moment from Thursday night’s 2020 Democratic debate when all 10 candidates said government-sponsored healthcare should cover undocumented immigrants, Chris Wallace pushed Perez to explain the Democratic Party’s position on the policy.
“It’s an insurance program, so you have to pay into it … immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — pay billions of dollars in taxes … that’s the reality,” Perez said.
Wallace then revisited a 2009 speech that President Barack Obama gave to a joint session of Congress, in which he touched on healthcare reform. “[To] those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants … that too, is false,” Obama said at the time, to which Republican South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson famously yelled, “You lie!”
Wallace then pointed out to Perez that Wilson was, in fact, correct, and that the party now supports insurance benefits for illegal immigrants, either under Obamacare or Medicare for All.
Regarding his party’s clear reversal on the issue, Perez explained, “We’re in a different era.” He then repeated his earlier remarks, claiming that undocumented immigrants pay significant taxes. “Democrats believe that you should be able to buy into a health insurance system, that’s not a handout,” he said.
