Illegal Immigration

[Auburn85 432]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150750,00.html

Overburdened by the uninsured and overwhelmed by illegal immigration (search), public health care in Los Angeles is on life support.

Sixty percent of the county's uninsured patients are not U.S. citizens. More than half are here illegally. About 2 million undocumented aliens in Los Angeles County alone are crowding emergency rooms because they can't afford to see a doctor.

According to the State Association of Hospitals (search), California's public health system is "on the brink of collapse." In Los Angeles County, patients can wait four days for a hospital bed and up to two years for gallbladder surgery.

"The hospitals are closing because of the totality of the uninsured," said Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director of the Los Angeles County Health Department (search). "If you're legally a resident in California and you're poor, you have a right to basic services."

But some critics say the taxpayers can't be the HMO (search) to the world. Last year, Los Angeles County spent $340 million to treat the uninsured; that's roughly $1,000 for every taxpayer.

"We're citizens here. Why should somebody from another country that's here illegally get anything that we can't get? I mean that's dumb, that's not right," said Don Schenck, whose son, Bill, is mentally disabled.

Though the Schencks are uninsured, and considered poor by county standards, his father had to find a way to pay for his Bill's care while thousands of others, in the country illegally, get it for free.

"It makes you feel pretty bad when you're born in that country and you're handicapped and you've got a learning disability and you can't get medical," Schenck said.

Mike Antonovich, the Los Angeles County supervisor, said the system has been "basically bankrupted."

The Department of Health has a $1.2 billion deficit. Caring for illegals is siphoning money from other services and forcing clinics, trauma centers and emergency rooms to close, he said.

"We cannot afford to have a open-door policy to encourage illegals to continue to come here and receive all the medical care, because it's too expensive," he said.

Immigrants like Yolanda Hernandez, however, argue that if there were cheap insurance plans available to her community, people would buy them.

"[Americans] have enough money to pay for insurance," she said. "They make good money and are educated. Unfortunately, we are not."

[Wishbone 0]

Welcome to the third world America! This is what we get when gutless politicians refuse to tackle tough issues.

[Auburn85 432]

Yeah, if we could stop Bush's so called workers program and could get the dems such as Reid and Kennedy to close down the Border like they plan to do the Senate, we'd be alright

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Yeah, if we could stop Bush's so called workers program and could get the dems such as Reid and Kennedy to close down the Border like they plan to do the Senate, we'd be alright

151605[/snapback]

I would have no problem with the guest worker program IF and this is a big IF, IF they would say "Okay, you register, get your little green ID card or whatever, and knock yourself out working, and paying taxes on your income. But let us catch you here without one of those little ID cards, and your ass is on the next tomato truck back to Mexico."

I think registered workers, in a huge database with fingerprints,etc is a great idea - BUT ENFORCE THE DAMN LAWS!!! If we don't deport the ones who are here without being registered, what incentive do these people have to be registered??? ZILCHO!

If they are registered, and taxes are taken out of their checks, and they pay into the system like everyone else, then great - that is how it SHOULD work - they are contributing to society then, and should be entitled to social services.

[Auburn85 432]

Has anyone heard of that group MACH-13(WORDING COULD BE WRONG)? It's a Mexican gang that has had members arrested for various crimes, but never prosecuted.

1 guy has been arrested and deported 4 times

Yes, that means he's snuck(understatement of the year) back over here 4 times .And we can't do a thing about it.

[Auburn85 432]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,135205,00.html

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court (search) considered Tuesday whether the government can send immigrants back to countries that haven't agreed to accept them, a question that will determine the fate of thousands of Somalis resisting deportation to their war-torn homeland.

The immigration case is one of three being heard this week that seek to delineate the limits of federal authorities, who say they should have wide discretion to send back or indefinitely detain foreigners in a post-Sept. 11 world of heightened terror threats.

The Somali case involves Keyse Jama, a 25-year-old refugee who doesn't dispute grounds for deportation because of a felony assault conviction but says he shouldn't be shipped to a lawless country in no position to take him.

"Congress has expressed an interest in the orderly process of deportation," Jeffrey Keyes, Jama's attorney, told the justices. "The reason to have the requirement of acceptance is so it would be less likely to have them bounced around and come back."

Government lawyers counter that federal law gives them authority to act in a way that supports U.S. security interests. Their inability to do so would be particularly troubling because of Somalia's "observed connection" to terrorist activity, they say.

At issue is whether a president is authorized under immigration laws to deport a legal immigrant to countries such as Somalia who haven't agreed to take them because they lack a functioning government. The statute is silent on that specific point.

More than 8,000 Somalis being held in the United States are either subject to deportation or awaiting hearings. Because it may take years for Somalia (search) to establish a working government, a victory for Jama will likely mean freedom for those immigrants since the Supreme Court has previously declared their indefinite detention unconstitutional.

In oral arguments, justices appeared divided in interpreting the statute in question.

Justice Stephen Breyer proposed a narrow solution that would grant Jama relief from deportation on the grounds that Somalia is not a "country" because it lacks a government.

When government lawyer Malcom L. Stewart resisted, Breyer responded: "You're not suggesting we can deport them to Antarctica or send them to the moon? Antarctica is a country, so we can send them to live with the penguins?"

Justice Antonin Scalia, meanwhile, expressed concern that a president's authority might be unduly constrained if the United States is required to obtain acceptance before deporting immigrants.

"So if prisoners were sent on a boat to the United States, your interpretation is that Congress forbids the president to send them back?" he asked. Keyes responded that the statute applies only to legal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

Currently, a federal judge's nationwide stay prevents the government from removing anyone to Somalia. A judge in Seattle ordered the ban on deportation, which remains in effect as the Supreme Court reviews the case.

Also Tuesday, the court heard arguments in the case of Josue Leocal, a Haitian man fighting deportation after pleading guilty to a felony charge of drunk driving.

At issue is whether a DUI accident that causes injury to others is a "crime of violence" that allows the government to start deportation proceedings against the permanent resident.

Leocal argues a "crime of violence" requires criminal intent or at least recklessness in causing harm — not mere negligence as in his offense; the United States disagrees, saying the wording of the immigration statute doesn't indicate that higher standard. Federal courts are sharply divided on the issue.

On Wednesday the court will consider if immigrants who entered the country illegally and then committed crimes should be constitutionally protected from indefinite detention.

Government lawyers have emphasized the potential terror threat, stating in filings that forcing the release of immigrants "creates an obvious gap in border security that could be exploited by hostile governments or organizations."

[Wishbone 0]

I think you mean MS-13 and they're from Elsalvador

[Auburn85 432]

I think you mean MS-13 and they're from Elsalvador

151756[/snapback]

Thanks

[Auburn85 432]

I wish we could get a piece of legislation passed on illegal immigration as quickly as Schiavo's