About 15,000 adult immigrants in Minnesota lost access to their state-funded health care on Jan. 1. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature — which then had a Democratic-Farmer-Labor trifecta — passed a bill that granted immigrants who entered the country illegally access to MinnesotaCare, a health care program for low-income people that began in the 1990s. The program helps those who are ineligible for Medicaid but unable to afford private health insurance. When the law was passed, it was heralded as a progressive milestone. That same year, lawmakers passed Driver’s License for All, which allowed immigrants in the country illegally to get a driver’s license. Enrollment opened in 2024, and beginning in 2025, immigrants were able to get care through the program if they were eligible based on their income. Ma Elena Gutierrez leads the group Fe y Justicia, a faith-based nonprofit that has organized around health equity. She said immigrants in the country illegally are likely to put off care like surgeries and preventative checkups, and to forgo medications. “This is really sad,” she said. …