Bismarck, North Dakota - A federal judge in North Dakota has blocked Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage for people who migrated to the US without documentation as children, known as Dreamers.

US District Judge Daniel M. Traynor on Monday granted Kansas and 18 other states a stay and a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of a Biden administration rule giving some Dreamers access to ACA, known informally as Obamacare.

The judge said Dreamers do not fulfill the eligibility requirement that they be "lawfully present" in the US.

"The authority granted to CMS [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] by the ACA is to ascertain whether an individual meets the requirements for lawful status. It by no means allows the agency to circumvent congressional authority and redefine the term 'lawfully present,'" Traynor wrote in his ruling.

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"This Final Rule will encourage DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients and other unlawfully present persons to illegally remain in the United States in the hope of receiving subsidized health insurance through the ACA," he further claimed.

Nicholas Espíritu, deputy legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, described the ruling as "both disappointing and wrong on the law" in a Monday statement.

"While we study the court’s ruling to evaluate the next steps in this case, we will continue to fight on behalf of our clients and hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients who have been waiting over a decade to access life-sustaining care under the Affordable Care Act," Espíritu said.

The Biden administration last May announced that active DACA recipients would be eligible for a qualified health plan or a basic health plan under the ACA.

The DACA program provides protection from deportation and work authorization to some Dreamers. Recipients must have arrived to the US under the age of 16 and continuously resided in the country since June 15, 2007.

As of June 30, 2024, the US was home to 535,030 active DACA recipients, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

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Many Dreamers have lived in the US most of their lives. They have gone to school, launched careers, and started families in the US. A 2023 study found the average DACA recipient was 32 years old and had arrived in the US between six and seven years of age.

Nevertheless, there is no current pathway to citizenship or lawful permanent residence for most Dreamers.

DACA is currently facing legal challenges, which may go all the way to the Supreme Court. The Department of Homeland Security has not processed new applications since a July 2021 court ruling dubbed the program "illegal," though past recipients may still apply for renewal.

Donald Trump's imminent White House return has sparked fears for the DACA program, which he tried to end in 2017. The president-elect, who has repeatedly threatened to launch mass deportations once in office, told NBC's Meet the Press he would "work with Democrats on a plan" to allow Dreamers to stay.