TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — Fifteen states filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against the Biden administration over a rule that is expected to allow 100,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to enroll in health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act next year.

States want to prevent the rule from taking effect on Nov. 1, which would give so-called “Dreamers” tax breaks when they sign up for health insurance. Registration for the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace begins the same day, just four days before the presidential election.

The states have filed suit in North Dakota, one of the affected states. All have Republican attorneys general, part of Republican efforts to thwart Biden administration rules that serve Democrats’ political goals.

The lawsuit argues that the rule violates a 1996 welfare reform law and the ACA. They also said it would encourage more immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally, putting a strain on states and their public school systems. Many economists have concluded that immigrants provide a net economic benefit, and immigration appears to have spurred job growth after the COVID-19 pandemic that prevented a recession.

The lawsuit comes amid Republican attacks on Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, for being weak in curbing illegal immigration. Border crossings reached record highs during the Biden administration but have recently declined.

“Illegal aliens should not get a free pass to enter our country,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. “They should not get tax breaks when they enter, and the Biden-Harris administration should not get a free pass to violate federal law.”

Kobach is an immigration hardliner who rose to national prominence two decades ago by calling for strict restrictions on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He also helped draft Arizona’s paperwork law in 2010. In addition to Kansas and North Dakota, the following states are involved in the litigation: Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit on Thursday. But Biden, in explaining the rule in May, said he was “committed to giving Dreamers the support they need to succeed.” The Biden administration is protecting them from deportation.

The “Dreamers” and their advocates said they are young people who had little or no choice in coming to the U.S. and who years later are fully integrated into their communities. At least 25 states, including Kansas, Nebraska and Virginia, allow them to pay the lower tuition rates reserved for their residents, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

In May, Biden said, “I am proud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country.”

The Dreamers were ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of “lawful residence” in the United States. The states that filed the lawsuit said it was “prima facie illogical” to declare their legal residence by decree because they face deportation without intervention from the Biden administration.

“Subsidized health insurance provided by the ACA is a valuable public benefit that encourages recipients of benefits living in the country illegally to remain in the United States,” the lawsuit states.

In previous lawsuits against the Biden administration, states have sometimes struggled to convince judges that the harm they face from a new rule is direct, concrete and specific enough to give them standing to sue. Of the 15 states involved in the lawsuit, only Idaho and Virginia operate their own health insurance markets rather than relying on a federal market.

But the states argue that increasing illegal immigration is costing them all more, citing a 2023 report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform that calls not only for stricter laws against illegal immigration but also for drastic restrictions on legal immigration.