EDITORIAL: Biden again tries to unilaterally rewrite the law

For a man who prattles on about Donald Trump and “democracy,” Joe Biden — remember him? — sure has a habit of ignoring and subverting constitutional checks and balances.

It seems like an eternity ago, but there was a time before the debate implosion when Mr. Biden was running for president. Pandering for votes was an administration specialty. The most glaring example was when, on numerous occasions, he thumbed his nose at a Supreme Court decision striking down his efforts to unilaterally erase billions in student loan debt.

A lesser-publicized example was his effort in May to rewrite the law to allow so-called Dreamers — tens of thousands of people who came to the United States illegally as children and are now beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — to receive taxpayer-subsidized health insurance under Obamacare. The White House estimates as many as 100,000 people would be added to the exchanges.

“We are committed to making health coverage accessible for all Americans, including DACA recipients, Dreamers, who have worked hard to live the American dream,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said.

That’s certainly a noble goal. But its legality is questionable, to say the least. To make the move, administration bureaucrats have rewritten the English language to suit their purposes, claiming that Dreamers fall under the definition of “lawfully present.”

As Kris Kobach, the Republican attorney general of Kansas, pointed out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week, current law “generally prohibits providing public benefits to illegal aliens.” By redefining “lawfully present” to include Dreamers, and thus making them eligible for government largesse, the White House contradicts the very definition of DACA.

“The ‘action’ that is deferred in DACA,” Mr. Kobach notes, “is deportation due to the person not being lawfully present — that is, you have to have entered the U.S. illegally to qualify for DACA status.”

This is not an issue about the wisdom of Mr. Biden’s policy change. A reasonable case can be made that some accommodation should be made for those who, through no fault of their own, were brought to the United States illegally as minors and have lived here since as productive and law-abiding members of society. But their status — and their eligibility for public assistance — is an issue for Congress to determine after an open and vigorous debate.

The Harris-Biden administration has instead decided to circumvent the legislative branch to make its own law. That’s not how it works in a “democracy.”