MIGRANT ADVOCACY GROUPS DENOUNCE TEXAS ORDER REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF CITIZENSHIP AT HOSPITALS
Health care providers are not legally required to ask or report about a patient’s citizenship status, according to the National Immigration Law Center. But practices like these threaten the safety of immigrants, who forego treatment to reduce the risk of deportation. Additionally, hospitals are designated “sensitive locations,” where enforcement by Customs Border Protection is generally avoided unless necessary.
“Despite his directive to provide care in accordance with federal law, Gov. Abbott’s executive order imposes an unconscionable barrier to health care and forces hospitals to stoke fear of medical interventions among immigrant, refugee and asylum-seeking people and families,” the nonprofit RAICES said in a statement.
The executive order applies to Texas acute care facilities enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Abbott said the new rule aims to reduce the “financial burden” imposed on Texas to pay medical bills for noncitizens.
But a new report by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the recent surge of immigration will have positive effects on the whole U.S. economy ten years into the future.
Although the CBO report found that increases in immigration tend to raise state and local governments’ spending — mostly on education, health care, and housing — officials expect migrant taxes to outweigh the cost of social services and increase federal revenue by $1.2 trillion.
“Governor Abbott is far from concerned about taxpayer dollars and the people of Texas,” said Faisal Al-Juburi, the spokesperson for RAICES. “This executive order is an extraordinary escalation of the tactics he will use to feed racist ideologies and only threatens to destabilize the economic prosperity of Texas by further disenfranchising a critical part of our community.”
Advocates like Dolores K. Schroeder, the CEO of RAICES, added that the directive pushes health care providers to assume a person’s immigration status, “perpetuating stereotypes and stigmas.”
