North Dakota
For now, ‘Dreamers’ will be shut out of the health care marketplace in 19 states
From left, Republican Attorneys General Drew Wrigley of North Dakota, Kris Kobach of Kansas and Marty Jackley of South Dakota speak to reporters after a hearing in federal court in Bismarck, on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Young adult immigrants known as “Dreamers” in 19 U.S. states will be temporarily blocked from getting health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s public marketplace, a federal judge has ruled, limiting an effort by the Biden administration to help immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
Judge Daniel Traynor of the U.S. District Court in North Dakota issued the order, dealing a setback to a Biden administration rule that was estimated to allow 147,000 immigrants to enroll for coverage. Traynor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed over the policy and will remain in effect until the matter can go to trial.
The ruling applies to immigrants in 19 states where Republican attorneys general sued to avoid having to comply with the new policy. They cited concern over immigrants possibly qualifying for public subsidies available to many people insured under the ACA.
The GOP state officials argued that the rule created earlier this year by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would be a strong incentive for immigrants to remain in the U.S. illegally and could creating costs for states. They argued that both the Affordable Care Act and a 1996 law prohibit U.S. government benefits flowing to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. “Dreamers” are part of a program that makes them a low priority for deportation. However, President-elect Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election promising “the largest mass deportation program in history.” He will succeed President Joe Biden on Jan. 20.
Traynor, a Trump appointee during his first term in office, concluded through what he called “a common-sense inference” that access to subsidized ACA coverage is a powerful incentive for people to remain in the U.S. illegally, creating a substantial risk that states will “suffer monetary harm.”
Federal law gives CMS the authority to determine whether someone is living in the U.S. legally, but, Traynor wrote, “It by no means allows the agency to circumvent congressional authority and redefine the term ‘lawfully present.’”
CMS said in a statement Tuesday that it is reviewing the lawsuit but does not comment on litigation.
Nicholas Espíritu, deputy legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, said some “Dreamers” have been waiting for more than a decade to get “life-sustaining” health coverage through the ACA.
“Judge Traynor’s ruling is both disappointing and wrong on the law,” Espíritu said, promising his group would continue to fight the issue.
But Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach called the decision “a victory for the rule of law.” He told reporters after a hearing in Bismarck in October that the Biden administration sought to redefine what it means to be an immigrant living in the U.S. legally by “executive fiat,” calling the rule “Alice in Wonderland stuff.”
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley added then that American taxpayers, through Congress, determine how the federal government treats immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
“And it doesn’t always come across as friendly and nice and cuddly, but it speaks to the access to our health care system, the cost of our health care system, and the burden on the American public, the taxpayer,” he said.
Kansas and North Dakota are the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in August. They’ve been joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
“Thankfully, the court put another nail in the coffin of Biden’s radical left-wing agenda,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement Tuesday.
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
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