Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley, a Kenyan-born Minnesota House representative for District 38A, has revealed that she voted against a bill seeking to exclude undocumented immigrant adults from a healthcare plan, MinnesotaCare.
Taking to social media after casting her vote, the US lawmaker recalled her near deportation when she was younger, asserting that her decision to oppose the bill stemmed from the compassion she received during that period.
She recalled that just two days before her planned deportation, an intervention by the then-Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone saved her family, and her stance was a reflection of that.
"Some 48 hours from deportation as a child, my life was saved by compassion, not paperwork," she recalled.
"Today, I was proud to vote NO on revoking MinnesotaCare for undocumented adults. Because healthcare is a human right & my faith calls me to love my neighbour. Because dignity has no borders."
The bill sought to exclude undocumented adults from the plan, leaving only undocumented children, although its objective was to offer free or lower-cost health insurance to Minnesotans with low income.
"Let's be clear: taking away healthcare from undocumented adults doesn't just hurt individuals, it hurts families. It puts children at risk. It devastates entire communities, and it weakens our public health systems across the state," she stated.
In late 2024, Hiltsley made history when she became the first Kenyan immigrant to win a state assembly seat anywhere in the US after running on a Democratic Party ticket.
In a series of interviews that followed this win, the House Representative narrated her immigration success story that almost ended in her deportation.
Her father, Momanyi, was the first of the family members to emigrate to the US as a student in 1988. Four years later, in 1992, Hiltsley's mother joined her husband in the States.
Hiltsley was nine when she, alongside two of her siblings, arrived in the US to be with their parents in 1995.
Unfortunately, after 11 years of seeking permanent residency for his family in the US, Momanyi exhausted all pathways, and his family was given 48 hours to leave the States.
However, a petition led by the African American church that the family attended attracted the attention of Senator Wellington, who lobbied on behalf of the family and secured them a last-minute court ruling overturning the deportation order.
Speaking to Mshale in 2021, Hilstley stated, "His intervention kept us here, and that experience taught me that government can truly be a force for good. We were not Americans who could give him votes, but he helped us just because we are human beings."
