Jose Magaña-Salgado

Jose Magaña-Salgado is the founder of Masa Group, a boutique D.C.-based consulting firm that engages in immigration advocacy on behalf of state, local, and national immigration non-profit organizations. He is a longtime immigration advocate, lawyer, and undocumented immigrant who holds Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Through his work he managed campaigns to protect immigrants from deportation, shape and implement DACA, expand health care access to immigrants, shape federal immigration policy, and advise multiple Presidential candidates. He and his work, including dozens of immigration reports and studies, have appeared on or been cited by federal district courts, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, The Economist, The Hill, POLITICO, Mother Jones, MSNBC, PolitiFact, Fox News, and others.

Project Description 

The #ACA4DACA campaign’s goal is to restore access to health care benefits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for the nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who hold Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Though Congress intended the ACA to provide benefits for immigrants with deferred action, DACA recipients are ineligible for the ACA as a result of government regulation. As a result, DACA recipients are excluded from tax credits meant to make health insurance more affordable and cannot even purchase health insurance exchanges using their own funds. The campaign involves a multifaceted effort involving hundreds of organizational partners that combine regulatory, legal, policy, and communications advocacy to, through executive action or the courts, restore access to the ACA.