Federal court in Seattle enjoins removal of legal immigrants from Wa. state health plan

From the Seattle Times, Oct. 26, 2011: "About 11,000 people who were kicked off the state's Basic Health insurance program for the working poor in March because of their immigration status will be allowed to re-enroll after a federal court judge said the state likely had violated their constitutional equal-protection rights.  Nearly 1,600 are immigrants who are in the country legally but have been "lawfully present" for less than five years; the others didn't supply information to the state about their resident status in time to avoid being removed from the program."

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 26, 2011: "After state officials booted 17,000 people off Basic Health in cost-saving move this year, a federal judge has ordered the state to invite 11,000 of them to rejoin the subsidized health-care program.  In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart said the state had violated constitutional and due-process rights when it kicked thousands of legal immigrants off Basic Health in March."

Here's a link to the order in the case of Unthaksinkun v. Porter, No. 11-CV-00588-ORD, W.D. Wa.