Next year’s implementation of President Obama’s health care law will have myriad effects on the nation’s economy and health care system. But it also throws a monkey wrench into this year’s immigration reform debate.

The interaction between immigration policy and the welfare state has been the subject of a long-running debate among conservatives and libertarians. Immigration restrictionists typically argue that the existence of a generous welfare state changes the dynamic of immigration, because a nation doesn’t want individuals to migrate for government benefits rather than to work.