Immigrants and Health Care
Is your bus full of immigrants? (cc photo by Charlie Brewer)
One frustrating aspect of the health care debate is that the President keeps getting accused of wanting to do things that he’s not actually doing but that would actually be good ideas. For example, as he explained last night the public option he’s designed stands no chance whatsoever of driving private insurance companies all out of business. But driving private health insurance companies out of business with public-private competition would be a good idea! Similarly, contrary to Rep Wilson, the bills under consideration really won’t give health insurance to undocumented immigrants. But like Alexandra Gutierrez this seems regrettable to me—undocumented immigrants are people, too!
Obviously, it’s politically impossible for elected officials to take any other stand on this immigrant issue, but it’s a really unfortunate and inhumane posture they’re adopted. Hopefully someday soon we’ll get an immigration reform measure that directly deals with the multi-faceted problem of the presence of a mass community of undocumented people in the United States. Until then, I’m still waiting for the moment when conservatives realize that “illegal immigrants might use it!” actually works as an argument against basically all public sector endeavors. Illegal immigrants benefit from the cops catching murderers! They ride the bus! They drive on highways! Better just eliminate all services to make sure no one from Mexico takes advantages of any of them.
52 Responses to “Immigrants and Health Care”
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September 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Steve Sailor in 3…2…1…
September 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am
We might do something to help the little brown people with the funny accents? Oh Nooooooooooooooes!!!!111
September 10th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Alexandra Gutierrez is regrettable to you?
September 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I think everyone in the world is getting Joe Wilson all wrong. I don’t think he was saying “you lie” to the specific assertion that the reformers are not planning to insure illegal immigrants (gasp!), I think he was shouting back a school-yard “no, you lie!” to the president after he said straightforwardly that the people who are spouting the death panel falsehood are lying.
First of all, it’s fantastic that Obama used the word “lies.” It’s well-documented how the media doesn’t like to use that word and it was refreshing to hear it.
Secondly, Wilson’s outburst was really amazing because, if I’m right about why he yelled, he sat there for almost a minute after Obama called him a liar and stewed before calling Obama a liar back. That’s a remarkable lack of self-control for a politician. Great stuff.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Alexandra Gutierrez is regrettable to you?
Well played, sir.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Right answer to the wrong problem.
If progressives continue to talk and act as there is no difference that matters between legal and illegal immigration, we will gradually and certainly continue to erode the historic support for legal immigration that has literally made us America.
Period. Full stop. If you can’t say “no” effectively, your “yes” becomes meaningless.
Talking plain common sense like that doesn’t mean that foreigners living here illegally should be stopped from riding public transportation (um, how?), and there is no law against illegal aliens buying health insurance.
But it DOES mean that we can talk plain common sense, which is how to make progress.
And that’s what progressives need to do.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Matt, they are doing it already. CHIP, public school funding, voter id requirements, you name it they are scapegoating and using the argument as a way to block any progress.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Nevermind, he just said it was about illegal immigrants
September 10th, 2009 at 11:50 am
The incredible short sightedness of repiglicans never ceases to amaze me. When people are sick, it is a benefit to the general public for them to be diagnosed and treated so that bad diseases like TB, swine flu, dysentery, etc. do not continue to circulate in the general population. Germs don’t care whether you have your papers in order. The same is true for education. Is it better for immigrant (documented or not) youth to be hanging on the streets learning to be criminals or gang members or in school, learning some socially useful skills like reading, math, etc. Should immigrants (documented or not) have to get drivers licenses and insurance or just drive without the basic knowledge of the rules of the road. Penny wise and pound foolish.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I am not reflexively anti immigration or brown people, but I do not understand why our immigration laws are so casually treated like just a nuisance for people to work around. If you think health insurance ought to apply to undocumented immigrants, why stop there, why not have it apply to citizens of foreign countries, why insist they actually live here. Here in Houston, the medical center gets a lot of “medical tourism” for cancer and heart treatments. Why should these folks have to pay for their medical treatment either.
If you make it tied to payroll tax deductions, then there is more of a case, I think in that case the government ought to either refund the deductions or provide the service, but I do not see the argument being as narrow as that.
We have an immigration policy that tries to limit the number of immigrants. If you want to change that policy then focus on that policy, don’t work on making adherence to the law comparatively less and less beneficial or meaningful.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I’m still waiting for the moment when conservatives realize that “illegal immigrants might use it!” actually works as an argument against basically all public sector endeavors.
You think they don’t do this already? Maybe not with the roads yet, but with almost everything else it’s already done. Even with the cops many conservatives think cops should, when responding to a call, check immigration status and pick up any “illegals”, even though that means “illegals” won’t get police protection.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:59 am
You think they don’t do this already? Maybe not with the roads yet, but with almost everything else it’s already done. Even with the cops many conservatives think cops should, when responding to a call, check immigration status and pick up any “illegals”, even though that means “illegals” won’t get police protection.
It would also mean everyone else would get a lot less police protection, since cops in high illegal immigrant areas would be spending all their time chasing after illegals rather than dealing with crimes.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I think you have the right end in mind but are going about it the wrong way. We shouldn’t be covering illegal immigrants, we should be reforming immigration so they have a status that allows them to be covered under the planned laws. That way you only fight the battle once, not on any bill that helps them.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
@Doug: I’m not sure our immigration policy actually does try to limit the number of immigrants. It’s all kind of a farce. We, theoretically, try to prevent people from entering the country illegally and sometimes even ship them back over the border. But once they get here there are jobs upon jobs waiting for them.
If we want to crack down on illegal immigration, the only way to do that is to actually prevent employers from hiring illegals. Anything else is just theater.
That said, Matt makes an excellent point when he says that all government services benefit illegal immigrants and saying that is no argument against those services. Imagine if there were a law preventing the police from investigating the murder of an illegal immigrant. (Actually, better not tell the right-wingers or they’ll start pushing for this.)
September 10th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I agree that we need to enforce laws against illegal immigration, and I agree with #6 that this is a dangerous political blind spot for progressives.
In general, I don’t think denying services is the way to do it — it’s a classic instance of shooting oneself in the foot. Public health will suffer, overall, if people don’t have access to vaccinations, etc. — just as road safety suffers if you’ve got a lot of unlicensed drivers.
Immigration laws need to be enforced at the site of employment. We could crack down there much more than we have.
But on my agenda of progressive priorities, I have to say that services for undocumented workers would come absolutely at the very bottom of the list. I don’t think it’s something we should even think about until there has been a credible attempt to enforce immigration law.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Poetic Justice
We pass fantastic health care reform and then die off in an H1N1 plague because illegals can’t get treated.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I bet if you looked hard enough, you could find a conservative saying that when an illegal immigrant is robbed, or maybe even assaulted, the cops should not only not investigate the crime, but arrest and deport the victim instead. (Obviously you can’t deport a murder victim, but you can arrest and deport their family…)
It’s really of a piece with the idea that we shouldn’t enforce laws against torture as long as only foreigners were tortured, and that’s practically an article of faith for them.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
So is the line that many are pushing here is that illegal immigrants should be treated only for communicable diseases?
September 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Living in California with 6 – 8 million illegal immigrants this is an important issue and from what I can see is not dealt with in any of the proposed bills so far. Other states such as New York and Texas will be in the same boat, but to lesser degrees. Because of this, whatever emerges as the final bill will not address this issue. Costs will not be contained in California – even with a public option – as their medical care will still be provided through hospital emergency rooms keeping the system as clogged as it is today.
The only thing that might work in California IMO would be some form of single payer that would be supported by a value added tax (VAT). This would cover everyone legal, illegal and just plain visitors to our great state as they all would be paying in to the system. It’s wishful thinking on my part, but I hope the Kucinich amendment makes it through.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Matt,
Agree that it is regrettable that this cannot be spoken of by politicians unless it is to say how awful these brown people are. What needs saying is this: Are we a society that believes it reasonable to turn away a patient who is actively dying in the ER because he/she may not be able to pay for the care, regardless of whether they are legal/illegal/immigrant/citizen, and send them onto the sidewalk outside the hospital to die? If the answer is no, then let’s admit that we are already paying for the health care of some illegal immigrants who are ill – why not make that cheaper by offering some sort of baseline care to the poorest among them that keeps them from using very expensive care at the ER door. For those who can pay something or can afford some sort of insurance, make them do one or the other. If the answer is yes, let them die, I no longer want to practice medicine in this country.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
@Doug,
Medical tourists pay for their healthcare. If they are illegal then EMTALA will cover emergency care only- which was a law signed by St. Ronald Reagan btw. Sure, if people want to get rid of EMTALA or say it’s citizens only then propose it and let’s debate it. The same is true about immigration reform.
I don’t think we should casually ignore immigration law and I certainly don’t support illegal immigration. But if we are going to decide it is time to enforce the laws and start deporting people or make life such hell that they will “self deport” then we need to look in the mirror and remember that this country acquiesced to illegal immigration for 20 years. We benefitted from illegal immigration. We also allowed millions of people to put roots down in cities and towns across the country. They started businesses, revitalized small towns, bought houses, and become members of our community. Their children, now U.S. citizens by birth, are in school and play with your kids and mine. I believe those illegal immigrants that have been here long term (say 10 yrs+) should be allowed to adjust to some type of legal status.
I would love it if we could actually talk sensibly about immigration reform. I think any good reform will probably make all sides unhappy. Unfortunately, from personal experience, it is hard to discuss immigration reform without seeing a seething hatred of Hispanics and others in they eyes of Republicans, FAIR, and the talk show radio hosts.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
If anything, it goes to show Yglesias hasn’t read either the bills in the House or the CRS report that proves that the House bill does include insuring illegal aliens.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
If there are death panels, as republicans insist, I’m surprised they don’t want illegal aliens involved….
September 10th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
If there are death panels, as republicans insist, I’m surprised they don’t want illegal aliens involved….
September 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Re-read: “there is no law against illegal aliens buying health insurance.”
September 10th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I think the News Media is not doing its job if it does NOT interview Rep Wilson and ask him to explain the basis of his accusation against Obama. If it is more Death Panel deceit, then he should have his nuts cut off.
On the other hand, my understanding is that hospitals are required, by law, to provide care to anyone showing up in the Emergency Room. Including illegal immigrants. If nothing changes that in the healthcare reform bill, then Wilson may have a partial point. Not that Obama was lying –but that Obama was misleading the country into thinking that the vast sums spent on medical care for illegals will not continue.
Either way, I think American voters deserve a clear answer on this subject.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I would love it if we could actually talk sensibly about immigration reform.
And I would love it if a big, golden moon rock landed in my yard.
We can’t even talk sensibly about health insurance for our own citizens.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
then we need to look in the mirror and remember that this country acquiesced to illegal immigration for 20 years.
This. Let’s work out how much that can of chopped pineapple or that broiler chicken or pork chop would cost in a marketplace where the supply chain starts with people receiving at least minimum wage, some kind of health coverage and basic job security. Y’know, a job Americans would do, my friends.
Comfortable paying for that at the checkout, Dobbsite America?
Good immigration reform would definitely make all sides unhappy to some degree. It would also entail thinking hard about the extent to which the historical embrace of “huddled masses” can be preserved in the 21st century — i.e. a system that isn’t primarily based upon pre-existing skills, qualifications or close family ties, but provides opportunities to those denied them elsewhere.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Hmmm. SC News media actually have checked with Joe Wilson.
In this interview, Joe Wilson says his outburst was based on the fact that Democrats Blocked two amendments to the healthcare reform bills that would have denied healthcare services to illegal immigrants.
http://www2.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/local_govtpolitics/article/rep._joe_wilson_meets_with_media_defends_reason_for_outburst/63222/
I think this issue is going to blow up in the next two days.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
On the other hand, this news source says provisions have been put in healthcare legislation prohibiting Illegals from getting subsidized healthcare coverage.
http://www.news-press.com/article/20090910/OPINION/90910023/1002/RSS01
Sigh.
I’m confused. Is Wilson full of crap or isn’t he?
September 10th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
It’s an update of the sub rosa “Southern strategy” case that we can’t have progessive policies because black people might benefit from them. Ira Katznelson’s book “When Affirmative Action Was White” details how FDR got around Southern objections to the New Deal on these grounds by excluding domestic and agricultural workers (where black workers were overrepresented at the time, especially in the South) from the NLRA, the FLSA, and Social Security. “Big government” programs like those in the New Deal or the GI Bill didn’t push the white working class (especially in the South) away from the Democrats until Democrats finally decided that black people should also be beneficiaries of “big government.” The party that always opposed government programs became the beneficiary of that backlash.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Hmmm. AP Factcheck says Wilson is full of shit. The House bill does have a clause prohibiting federal funds for healthcare for illegals.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_fact_check
I hope DCCC helps Wilson’s challenger in South Carolina and plays this up big: Not only is Wilson an asshole, he’s either a liar or he is a STUPID asshole. Not even Republicans want to be represented by the Village idiot.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
It’s an update of the sub rosa “Southern strategy” case that we can’t have progessive policies because black people might benefit from them…The party that always opposed government programs became the beneficiary of that backlash.
The political problem for those who advocate today’s Southern strategy, though, is that, unlike the African-American population in the mid and late 20th century, the Latino population isn’t largely stable as a percentage of the voting population. It’s growing rapidly. There’s a backlash, all right. But the GOP isn’t going to like this backlash one bit.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Don,
I think he is full of crap.
As far as illegals or even citizens that are uninsured getting free treatment, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 (EMTALA) covers that. EMTALA was designed to prevent “patient dumping” from private hospitals to public ones. It was not designed as immigration legislation. It was a public policy decision that Congress and President Reagan made. They did not want any patients- U.S. citizens or otherwise-to be refused emergency medical care because of an inability to pay. EMTALA does not provide health insurance for illegal immigrants.
Now, Section 246 of proposed health care bill HR 3200 specifically has language that prohibits granting benefits to illegal aliens. You can read the PDF version of the entire bill here. Section 246 of the Bill, found on page 143 of the PDF document, is entitled, “No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens”.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Yes, Wilson is full of crap. Not only that, but he is seriously rattled in that clip — “Congressional Resources Service?”
These are the facts:
Foreigners living illegally in the United States are not eligible for public assistance, with the EXCEPTION of emergency care. No Democratic sponsored health care bill changes that.
No law prohibits foreigners living illegally in the US from buying health insurance.
What Obama said was: “There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
The actual CRS report that Wilson refers to (which he has evidently not read) notes that the legislation states: “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”"
Proving Obama’s point that this is all about politics, Wilson grabs at straws to claim that calling out to the President “you lie!” was prompted by the defeat of two unncessary amendments in different committees. There is a longstanding program called SAVE which screens the citizenship/immigrations status of applicants for public assistance: neither of these amendments would have added the slightest effectiveness to SAVE, which is why they were defeated. (SAVE suffers from the same vulnerabilities as E-Verify, for which Wilson has no answers.)
September 10th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I do not understand why our immigration laws are so casually treated like just a nuisance for people to work around.
It’s because our immigration laws are just a nuisance for people to work around. They discourage legal immigration by setting limits based on familial ties or rare talents. In the mean time, the average Jose without those things has little to no chance of seeking a better life in the US. It’s actually much easier to simply live without state sanction-just plain ignore the rules.
I have little sympathy for the argument that goes, “I have nothing against immigration, I just don’t like illegal immigration”. This is like saying, “I have nothing against pot smoking, I’m just against illegal pot smoking.” Point it, illegal immigration isn’t fixed by enforcing restrictive immigration laws. It’s fixed by making immigration legal, easier to achieve legally.
The biggest rationale for restricting immigration is that government policy can direct the labor market, presumably in favor of native workers. But this fails on at least two points. One, the government never knows what the labor market needs better than the actual labor market. Two, saving native jobs by restricting the labor pool is functionally the same as restricting imported goods to favor US companies, and makes about as much sense. Either way is pad policy that actually hurts native prosperity along with immigrant prosperity.
Policing employers aggressively is a police state tactic, and enterprise killer. Does anyone really want to throttle businesses at the drop of a hat, to apprehend people who are doing nothing other than earning a paycheck? Government power should be expended catching people causing actual harm to person or property, not people who’s crime is their state of being.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Re: Good immigration reform would definitely make all sides unhappy to some degree.
That’s the case for most good policies, isn’t it?
I think that a world with lots of massive immigration from one country to another is an unhealthy world, I couldn’t disagree more with Shecky above, and I think that most of the world’s countries (not necessarily the United States) would be better off if immigration and emigration were minimal. Not least because having large numbers of people emigrate destabilizes societies, families, and communities in the countries they come from, promotes individualism, and undermines solidarity. That being said, to provide health care to anyone who lives in this country- citizen, illegal immigrant, legal resident- is an absolute moral necessity. To be treated when sick, and to be assisted in staying healthy, is a human right, not a simple civil right which can be denied to noncitizens. How and whether we should enforce immigration law is an interesting question, it may be that whatever our moral views about whether immigration is inherently a good or bad things, such laws must be inherently unenforceable. But it should be clear to all decent people that the place to enforce them- if it exists- is not the clinic door.
“And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” Not much about asking for immigration papers there.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Foreigners living illegally in the United States are not eligible for public assistance, with the EXCEPTION of emergency care. No Democratic sponsored health care bill changes that.
Most non-citizens living legally in the US are ineligible for most forms of public assistance until they naturalize or rack up sufficient Social Security credits. If their visas or green cards come from a family member or employer, that family member or employer is usually on the hook to reimburse any state or federal benefits.
Legally-admitted non-citizens will be eligible for the subsidies in the exchange, but I haven’t seen any indication that the current eligibility restrictions on Medicaid or SCHIP for permanent residents — a five-year wait after getting a green card — are going to change.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Matt says of illegal aliens:
“They ride the bus!”
Which is, of course, a big reason why SWPLs like Matt dislike riding buses themselves and are always fantasizing about rail systems that would attract a better class of rider.
From Stuff White People Like:
“White people all support the idea of public transportation and will be happy to tell you about how the subways and streetcars/trams have helped to energize cities like Chicago and Portland. They will tell you all about the energy and cost savigns of having people abandon their cars for public transportation and how they hope that one day they can live in a city where they will be car-free.
“At this point, you are probably thinking about the massive number of buses that serve your city and how you have never seen a white person riding them. To a white person a bus is essentially a giant minivan that continually stops to pick up progressively smellier people. You should never, ever point this out to a white person. It will make them recognize that they might not love public transportation as much as they though, and then they will feel sad.”
September 10th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Point it, illegal immigration isn’t fixed by enforcing restrictive immigration laws. It’s fixed by making immigration legal, easier to achieve legally.
Just like rape is usually the women’s fault because she should have consented.
In the mean time, the average Jose without those things has little to no chance of seeking a better life in the US.
And why do we owe them that?
Policing employers aggressively is a police state tactic
No more so than the surveillance required to maintain an income tax. If you don’t think that the IRS is a police state institution, I don’t see why the INS should be thus considered.
“Big government” programs like those in the New Deal or the GI Bill didn’t push the white working class (especially in the South) away from the Democrats until Democrats finally decided that black people should also be beneficiaries of “big government.”
Of course, if the black illegitimacy and crime rates hadn’t skyrocketed immediaely upon blacks becoming eligible for “big government” programs, perhaps people would be less likely to feel such an attitude toward the Dems.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Re: As far as illegals or even citizens that are uninsured getting free treatment
Um, no one receive “free” treatment under EMTLA. The emergency room is required to treat everyone, but is not required to do so for free. People who receive ER treatment are billed for it. Sure they may not pay, but then they will have bill collectors dogging them, and possbility legal judgments made against them.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
I think there is some very clever stepping going on here. Just as current Medicaid/CHIP programs do not intentionally insure illegal immigrants, the new proposal does not intentionally insure illegal immigrants.
What Wilson’s bill would do is make the application process more rigorous to prevent illegal immigrants from sneaking into coverage. It might prevent a few (I don’t think a lot of illegal immigrants are risking being found by applying for social programs) illegal immigrants from making it into the programs, but such restrictions have been documented at doing a lot to prevent legitimate enrollees from getting access.
Do you hate brown people (or poor people) so much that you’d deny 10 people their rightful spot in a health care subsidy program in order to prevent 1 person from wrongfully getting in?
September 10th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Real life observation tells us that, more often than not, those who work the hardest achieve the most.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Undocumented workers can qualify for Medicaid in emergency situations if they are otherwise eligible categorically via TANF or the Aged & Disabled related programs.
Here in Texas single adults are not eligible for Medicaid unless disabled and financially eligible. So, your undocumented worker who is severely injured, or has a heart problem, or has cancer and meets disability criteria can possibly qualify. Hospitalization would be covered (if an emergency) but routine doctor’s visits and such things as chemo would not. Disabled citizens would have these covered, of course, under Medicaid (SSI) or Medicare (unfortunately after waiting two years).
Undocumented kids and pregnant women can qualify for emergency services and delivery is so defined. There are also a number of programs that can cover clinic visits for undocumented pregnant women under Title V.
And your local tax dollars tend to pick up all the rest of uncompensated care in your local public sector hospital if you live in an urban area. If you are a rural resident you happily pass those costs on to your friends in the the city with the public sector hospital by dumping your medically indigent residents there.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:08 am
[...] Immigrants and Health Care - Matthew Yglesias [...]
September 11th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Better just eliminate all services to make sure no one from Mexico takes advantages of any of them.
No, better just eliminate all the illegals by sending them back to Mexico.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Re: Real life observation tells us that, more often than not, those who work the hardest achieve the most.
Exhibit A, of course, being the stellar student, military pilot, and businessman, George W. Bush.
Oh, wait a minute…..
September 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
[...] as anyone else. After all, an effective health care system covers as many people as possible and as Matt Yglesias points out, it’s too bad the President and Democrats are getting pounded for doing something that [...]
September 12th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
No more Mr. nice guy from the general public, who must demand that E-Verify becomes a stable, in-perpetuity federal immigration enforcement tool for everybody? No half-measure, but full implementation across the country. For new workers and those who have been payroll forever. Why has it taken so long to coordinate this computer illegal immigrant recognition software? The answer is evidently politicians who have been manipulated by campaign money, special favors from lobbyists. They are like a Monarchy buying and selling favors for distracting the unknowing public from strong enforcement, from the border line and enforcement in the working locations throughout our nation. Significant pieces of law have been reduced to weakened, insufficient laws that do nothing for the American people. The stimulus package was compromised, with no terminology to reduce illegal workers from applying for jobs in construction and other industries.
To me this is premeditated and likewise with public access to health care, because there was no restrictions to identify illegal immigrants in the package. Until yesterday the Democratic committee members realize they had been discovered and added amendments blocking illegal persons from applying, by running their names through Social Security. It’s common knowledge that illegal immigrants receive free treatment in emergency hospitals, which have for decades have been exploited for any minor ailments. The main conspirators within the Democratic leadership are Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Nancy Pelosi House Speaker. Both represent states of mass illegal immigration. Reid for his abandonment of the American worker may soon be ousted from office? He was the main contender in the near disintegration of E-Verify. On one hand Democrats saliva over millions of extra votes if another Blanket Amnesty is enacted, while the alternate party status quo are wanting to keep an unceasing supply of illegal labor.
Running scared Pelosi and Napolitano have changed sides and displaying a different attitude towards the millions of jobless Americans, whose work has been appropriated by foreign labor. In many cases large companies have clearly knowingly hired cheap labor, in placement of citizens and legal residents. In ICE raids its positive proof that mega- businesses built their labor force on foreign nationals? Yet the majority of companies isolated themselves from major penalties and only the lesser management was punished. E-verify would have remained non-existent if it was not for the adamant pressure of bloggers comments and articles on the internet that enlivened public attention.
Believe me when I say the bombardment of American voices over the switchboards in a harassed Washington, made a extraordinary difference? THEY ACTUALLY LISTENED and the Special interest organizations couldn’t even delay the courts, in ordering the en-masse contractors and sub-contractors from obeying federal law. Years of neglect by previous administrations on both sides of the aisle, has allowed the unregulated droves of foreign illegal aliens along with families into our neighborhoods. TODAY! RIGHT NOW! We must have millions more bona-fide Americans calling this number 202-224-3121 in the muck hole at the Capitol, really do have the ultimate power of changing things.
For me health care reform is a priority because family members have suffered too long under the umbrella of shady insurance companies, as being declined of pre-existing condition was a factor in my daughter’s coverage dying of cancer at an early age. But any kind of public health care must not be rationed and must not give access to people who should never entered our country illegally. E-Verify a composite of the SAVE ACT must—NOT–be devalued by the corrupt politicians in the Democratic Party, nor the 287 G. cities, county and state police training to question and apprehend foreign nationals. In conclusion, the President wants to push another path to citizenship for those who came here through the back door? Awarding people for wrongdoing is not in my book?
If it’s anything like the 1986 Simpson/Mazzoli bill it was overloaded with fraud and ended up costing taxpayers billions. New immigrants must come in orderly, signing documentation that they will not be public welfare charges. Without mitigating circumstances anybody who violates this law must be deported.It makes more sense, if such legislation exists in DC to only approve entry visas, for new immigrants with heavily vetted credentials of highly skilled engineers and professional career individuals. After all, they are unlikely to become an unemployed welfare recipient? The 1986 immigration law was intentionally engineered from the beginning, but already contains important factors in enforcement of laws.
Strengthen the same 1986 laws with amendments, instead of starting again. This legislation is already on the books? The truth is that it’s not broken, but heavily under funded from the beginning and bloated with fraud. Guest worker programs and special visas for skilled tradesman has remained a nemesis. This includes fraudulent partnership of businesses entities, attorneys in hiring agricultural workers for the fields? Many have lied to the government authorities and who have been instrumental in its corrupt notorious character. If new guest workers programs enacted by a Nancy Pelosi’s AGjobs bill are eminent, the applicants must be carefully screened with the knowledge that working visas on expiring, that those individuals must return to their original place of residence. That they cannot qualify for a legal resident visa, nor can America anymore accommodate their family members with chain migration?
Another anomaly is the border fence? It was—NEVER BUILT—to Rep. Duncan Hunters original specs? His short fence expanse in San Diego remains a strong classic example of following the law. Currently along our international border we have a single line fence, not a two tier fence, with a no-mans land for patrolling border patrol vehicles in between. The previous administration shall ever be haunted by the fact they installed a virtual barrier in many places, with malfunctioning cameras, sensors, obsolete vehicle barriers that could easily be maneuvered around, that cost millions of dollars in taxpayers backing. Expenditures to support illegal immigrants through corporate welfare, over generation would leave a trail of hundred dollar bills from Earth to the Moon and back again. We need to repair our collapsing infrastructure, stop the erosion of bridges, tunnels and dams. Even our water supplies are compromised by the irreversible course of OVERPOPULATION
Federal legislation must be written to correct and heavily fine states that promote Sanctuary Alcoves such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Warning them that no funding will be appropriated who violate federal law, instead of purposely looking the other way.
The majority of these enforcement laws have been weakened, many left to rot in a dormant state at the National Archives. Immigration laws have been compromised time and time again by lobbyists offering favors to our public servants. Facts not fiction can learned at NUMBERSUSA & JUDICIAL WATCH.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[...] all, an effective health care system covers as many people as possible and as Matt Yglesias points out, it’s too bad the President and Democrats are getting pounded for doing something that they’re [...]
September 16th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
[...] won’t receive benefits under the House and Senate health care bills, no matter how many humanitarian and practical arguments are made in favor of it. While including undocumented immigrants may spell [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 11:08 am
[...] won’t receive benefits under the House and Senate health care bills, no matter how many humanitarian and practical arguments are made in favor of it. While including undocumented immigrants may spell [...]