Vance Calls Out Dems for ‘Sleight of Hand’ Trick on Illegal Alien Healthcare

Vice President J.D. Vance accused Democrats on Tuesday of using “sleight of hand” in the ongoing budget standoff, charging that their top demand to reopen the federal government is restoring taxpayer-funded health care benefits for illegal immigrants.

In a video message posted to X, Vance said Democrats were misleading the public by claiming the shutdown had nothing to do with benefits for noncitizens.

“There are two very specific ways — and you can look at the legislative text — two specific ways in which the Democrats are asking us to give taxpayer-funded health care benefits for illegal aliens,” Vance said.

The vice president pointed first to programs under the Biden administration that reimbursed hospitals for treating illegal immigrants.

“That’s bad for American citizens who want to use those services. It’s also bad for American taxpayers, who don’t want to pay for illegal aliens to use those services,” he explained. Vance noted that the Trump administration eliminated that reimbursement scheme in its “One Big Beautiful Bill,” yet Democrats now want it restored at a projected cost of “hundreds of billions of dollars.”

He also criticized parole programs created under Biden, which he said effectively gave mass entry to illegal immigrants by reclassifying them as parolees, making them eligible for taxpayer-funded health benefits.

“We turned that off as well,” Vance said. “Democrats want to turn it back on.”

Framing the battle as a form of extortion, Vance argued that Democrats are conditioning government funding—including military paychecks—on President Trump agreeing to reinstate illegal immigrant health benefits.

“It’s not just bad policy,” he said. “We are not going to negotiate while being held hostage.”

Vance urged Democrats to back the Republican-sponsored continuing resolution, which would reopen the government immediately without the controversial add-ons.

“Turn the government back on, and then we can have a debate about health care policy,” he said.

The dispute intensified during an interview between House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and CNN’s Jake Tapper. Jeffries dismissed GOP claims as “a lie,” but Tapper pressed him on the Democratic proposal’s explicit provisions—restoring emergency Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals treating illegal immigrants and extending benefits to asylum seekers and those with “temporary protected status.”

“Why even include that?” Tapper asked. Jeffries dodged the question.

Republicans say this exchange proves their point.

“It’s in writing,” Vance emphasized. “It’s not a talking point. It is in the text of the bill that they initially gave to us to reopen the government.”

Critics argue Democrats are manufacturing a crisis by attaching policies that don’t expire until next year.

“That premium support program doesn’t even expire until next year,” Vance noted. “So why are you shutting down the government on Oct. 1 because of a program that doesn’t even expire for another few months?”

The White House and Republican leaders have said they remain willing to debate immigration and health care policy separately, but insist Democrats must first pass a “clean” funding bill to end the shutdown.

The standoff, now in its first week, has already forced federal agencies to prepare for furloughs and left ICE agents and other law enforcement officers working without pay.