I have one of the waivers mentioned in this article (I didn’t enter on a fake passport, but I didn’t have the kind of visa they wanted and so they considered me to have entered as a tourist even though I told them I was immigrating). My citizenship application is in process. If they deny it and take away my green card, I just go back to Canada, it’s not like my life is in danger, but my husband can’t practice law in Canada, and it would turn our whole lives upside down.
I’m also mad that they’re treating Obamacare as a government benefit. JFC. I was told I couldn’t accept government assistance for ten years from when I entered the country, and neither could Alan since I’d benefit from it, and as a consequence we were p.o.o.r. for several years (not hopelessly generational poor, to be sure, but definitely dodging bill collectors and going a day or two a month without food poor). Obamacare didn’t exist yet then, but I would have used it if it had and if we could have afforded the premiums—our understanding was that it was only welfare programs that counted.
I’m sick to my stomach with anxiety whenever I think about this stuff.