Conservative group urges GOP to follow Youngkin's lead on immigration issue

A conservative group rolled out an ad on Wednesday encouraging other Republicans to look to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) on the issue of immigration following Youngkin's decision to veto state legislation that would strengthen a federal program that conservatives say has led to undocumented immigrants receiving subsidized health care. 

The 30-second ad, which was  released by the conservative nonprofit Building America's Future and first seen by The Hill, will air in Kansas, Mississippi and Missouri. All three of the states are considering legislation that would strengthen the program, known as 340B. 

The ad features President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). 

"Health care providers are exploiting the 340b program by using the funds to foot the bill for health care costs of illegal aliens, which is greatly exacerbated by President Biden’s disastrous border crisis," said Katie Miller, a senior adviser to Building America's Future. "We thank Governor Youngkin for keeping his word and rejecting the 340b money laundering scheme and we hope Republican leaders in other states follow Governor Youngkin’s lead.”

The program was initially meant to fund facilities that care for low-income patients, however, conservatives note that the funding has been used to give care to undocumented immigrants. On Wednesday, Youngkin vetoed SB119 which would have strengthened the 340B program. 

The governor said he was “deeply concerned about the federal 340B program and how it could be exploited to provide taxpayer-subsidized healthcare to illegal immigrants.” 

Immigration has become a key issue for Republicans up and down the ballot as the November general election nears. The party has slammed the Biden administration for its handling of the flow of migrants over the southern border.