Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas is a fairly famous institution and for a variety of reasons:
1. John F. Kennedy died there in 1963
2. Lee Harvey Oswald died there shortly after
3. Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, died there a few years later by coincidenceOn the flip side, Parkland is also home to the second busiest maternity ward in the country with almost 16,000 new babies arriving each year. (That’s almost 44 per day — every day)
A recent patient survey indicated that 70 percent of the women who gave birth at Parkland in the first three months of 2006 were illegal immigrants.’ Crikey, that’s 11,200 anchor babies born every year just in Dallas. According to the article, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies in 2004 but managed to end up with almost $8 million dollars in surplus funding. Medicaid kicked in $34.5 million, Dallas County taxpayers kicked in $31.3 million and the feds tossed in another $9.5 million.
The average patient in Parkland’s maternity wards is 25 years old, married and giving birth to her second child. She is also an illegal immigrant. By law, pregnant women cannot be denied medical care based on their immigration status or ability to pay. OK, fine. That doesn’t mean they should receive better care than everyday, middle-class American citizens. But at Parkland Hospital, they do.
Parkland Memorial Hospital has nine prenatal clinics. NINE. The Dallas Morning News article followed a Hispanic woman who was a patient at one of the clinics and pregnant with her third child — her previous two were also born at Parkland. Her first two deliveries were free and the Mexican native was grateful because it would have cost $200 to have them in Mexico. This time, the hospital wants her to pay $10 per visit and $100 for the delivery but she was unsure if she could come up with the money. Not that it matters, the hospital won’t turn her away. (I wonder why they even bother asking at this point.)
How long has this been going on? What are the long-term effects? Well, another subject of the article was born at Parkland in 1986 shortly after her mother entered the U.S. illegally — now she is having her own child there as well. (That’s right, she’s technically a U.S. citizen.) These women receive free prenatal care including medication, nutrition, birthing classes and child care classes. They also get freebies such as car seats, bottles, diapers and formula.
Most of these things are available to American citizens as well but only for low-income applicants and even then, the red tape involved is almost insurmountable.
Because these women are illegal immigrants they do not have to provide any sort of legitimate identification — no proof of income. An American citizen would have to provide a social security number which would reveal their annual income — an illegal immigrant need only claim to be poor and the hospital must take them at their word.
My husband is a pilot for the United States Navy (yes, he fought in Iraq) and while the health care is good, we Navy wives don’t get any of these perks! Car seats? Diapers? Not so much. So my question is this: Does our public medical care system treat illegal immigrants better than American citizens? Yes it does!
As I mentioned, the care I have received is perfectly adequate but it’s bare bones, meat and potato medical care — not top of line.
Their (the illegals) medical care is free — simply because they are illegal immigrants? Once again, there is no way to verify their income. Parkland Hospital offers indigent care to Dallas County earn less than $40,000 per year. (They also have to prove that they did not refuse health coverage at their current job. Yeah, the ‘free’ care is not so easy for Americans.)
There are about 140 patients who received roughly $4 million dollars for un-reimbursed medical care. As it turns out, they did not qualify for free treatment because they resided outside of Dallas County. So the hospital is going to sue them! Illegals get it all free! But U.S. citizens who live outside of Dallas County get sued! How stupid is this?
As if that isn’t annoying enough, the illegal immigrant patients are actually complaining about hospital staff not speaking Spanish. In this AP story, the author speaks with a woman who is upset that she had to translate comments from the hospital staff into Spanish for her husband. The doctor was trying to explain the situation to the family and the mother was forced to translate for her husband who only spoke Spanish. This was apparently a great injustice to her.
In an attempt to create a Spanish-speaking staff, Parkland Hospital is now providing incentives in the form of extra pay for applicants who speak Spanish. Additionally, medical students at the University of Texas Southwestern for which Parkland Hospital is the training facility will now have a Spanish language requirement added to their already jammed-packed curriculum. No other school in the country boasts such a ridiculous multi-semester (multicultural) requirement.
Even the left wing husband and wife team at snopes had to admit this is a true and accurate account.
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So how does Mexico feel about people who come waltzing into their country illegally?
Well in a nutshell they don’t put up with it. Mexican law makes it a felony to be in the country illegally.
Mexico has a pretty strict set of rules and regulations (reference The General Population Law a Spanish language PDF) when it comes to immigration and frankly they do make a lot of sense.
(from this humanevents.com article)
*Article 32 says foreigners are only allowed into Mexico “according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress.”
*Article 33 points out that foreigners may not, in any manner, involve themselves in the political affairs of Mexico. That’s right, no marching in the street or protesting of any kind if you are not a citizen.
*Article 34 says immigration officials must “ensure” that “immigrants will be useful elements for the country and that they have the necessary funds for their sustenance” and for their dependents.
*Article 37 tell us that foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets “the equilibrium of the national demographics,” when foreigners are deemed detrimental to “economic or national interests,” when they do not behave like good citizens in their own country, when they have broken Mexican laws, and when “they are not found to be physically or mentally healthy.”
*Article 38 declares the Secretary of Governance may “suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest.”
*Article 73 dictates that federal, local and municipal police must cooperate with federal immigration authorities upon request, i.e., to assist in the arrests of illegal immigrants.
*Articles 85 and 86 proclaims a National Population Registry will keep track of “every single individual who comprises the population of the country,” and verifies each individual’s identity.
*Article 87 states a national Catalog of Foreigners must track foreign tourists and immigrants.
*Article 91 says all foreign tourists and immigrants will be assigned a unique tracking number.
*Article 116 declares all foreigners with fake immigration papers may be fined or imprisoned.
*Article 117 states all foreigners who fail to obey a deportation order are to be punished.
*Article 118 points out that foreigners who are deported from Mexico and attempt to re-enter the country without authorization can be imprisoned for up to 10 years.
*Foreigners who violate the terms of their visa may be sentenced to up to six years in prison (Articles 119, 120 and 121). Foreigners who misrepresent the terms of their visa while in Mexico — such as working with out a permit — can also be imprisoned.
Illegal entry into Mexico is a felony under the country’s laws. More from The General Law on Population,
* Article 123 imposes a penalty of up to two years in prison, and a fine of $300.00 to $5,000.00 pesos [US$28.00 to US$467.00], on foreigners who enter the country illegally.
*Article 125 says foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned.
*Article 126 says foreigners who “attempt against national sovereignty or security” will be deported.
Mexican citizens who help others enter the country illegally are also considered criminals,
*Article 127 points out that a Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison.
*Article 132 dictates that shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico will be fined.
*Article 138 dictates a penalty of six to 12 years in prison, and a fine calculated at from 100 to 10,000 days multiplied by the general minimum salary in effect in Mexico City [$52.59 pesos per day, or US$4.91, for 2008], will be imposed on those who themselves, or through third parties, with the intent of trafficking, try to or do take Mexicans or foreigners into another country without the corresponding documentation.
As you can see the government of Mexico doesn’t screw around with people who try to enter that country illegally. There is no free medical care, schooling, welfare or other social service benefits and there is no such thing as giving birth to anchor babies for those coming from countries to the south.
While the majority of American citizens want to see an end to this country’s wide open border insanity we have the person third in line for the office of President, Nancy Pelosi, going around calling illegal aliens PATRIOTIC!
Clearly it is the statists pushing for unlimited immigration into the U.S. with the hopes of using the counting of those living here illegally in the next census to gain Democratic seats in the House of Representatives and votes when these illegal immigrants are granted amnesty and eventually citizenship.
Few people in this country have issues with legal immigration into the U.S. All we ask is for everyone to go through the process and follow the laws of our country.
Even with that said Americans simply cannot continue to take in millions of people from south of the border nor from around the planet, that is just not a sustainable or viable option any longer and we need to vote people into office who understand that concept of reality.
