For many people, the Trump administration's immigration policy is an irreparable human tragedy. For America it is a shameful part of our history.
In this context, please know that the Trump administration, and Trump himself, routinely destroys documents relating to its policies, including to what is reported here. These papers and files, by law, belong to our National Archives. Their destruction factually rewrites our history.
Republicans cry poor mouth - we can't afford to help people, let alone preserve records. And certainly it looks like that to many Americans, whose own situations are strained and precarious. But the great wealth of our nation is being appropriated by the likes of Trump, while the records are being hidden - or destroyed.
13
Presented without evidence.
12
@pi you know this how?
8
@pi PI knows this because he reads good information and watches reputable reporters not Rupert's Faux News.
8
In a striking example of how well the right wing's talking points and winner take all policies are working, we here see readers of the NYT, not exactly a conservative bunch, adopting the "America First" doctrine of Donald Trump. Little remains of the American middle class, and what is left of it trembles under a growing sense of precariousness. Instead of looking at the cause - the concentration of wealth and power into the hands of a very few, and fighting for a fair share of the pie, they are circling the wagons and trying to preserve the crumbs they still hold. Aside from being cruel and inhumane, it is self-defeating. By turning your backs on the poor, you are giving permission to the 0.1% to grab what little is left of this once great country.
7
I haven’t read any comments here advocating for neglect of America’s poor citizens.
14
@Laurence Hauben And exactly NONE of what you said has anything to do with immigration policy.
11
I am absolutely appalled by the callous disregard so many replies have showed for the weakest among us as people. Yes I believe we need to help our citizens but to ignore health and life of a person or population because he or she is is not is despicable - legal or not.
10
Everyone from Tierra Del Fuego to the Rio Grande knows the horrible conditions in Mexico. Yet still they come. The lure of life in America cannot be stopped by walls nor camps. Document them. Let them pay taxes and FICA. Make them Americans.
9
Almost all of these people are seeking welfare in some form, not asylum. The U.S. can not and should not provide care for the entire world. Most of Mexico is very, very safe, so those in Mexico have reached a safe haven.
A border wall really would solve thus problem since most of these people would never be able to illegally enter the U.S. to make their phoney asylum claims.
25
“Their understanding is it’s Mexico’s responsibility to care for the migrants, but are they checking on that?” asked Theresa Cardinal Brown, the director of immigration and cross border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
It probably is. Mexico signed onto the Global Compact on Migration, which is came into effect December 18, 2018. Obama signed on but Trump withdrew the United States from being a signatory.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is an intergovernmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, that describes itself as covering "all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner".
6
@S Sm - Global Compact for Migration signed on December 19, 2019.
1
Ina perfect world, everyone would have access to healthcare. It is heartbreaking to read of the medical conditions of impoverished individuals who have no access to quality healthcare. The irony here is that sentence applies to many people here in our disunited states of America. Many have no health insurance or inadequate health insurance and they are in the same position as these migrants. Many here can not afford expensive lifesaving medications. If you are uninsured, a colonoscopy costs at least $1500. If you have no coverage, your colon cancer will go undetected and untreated.
How can we assume the expenses of medical care for the world when we can’t even provide medical care for US citizens? I am sad these migrants have medical conditions that need attention, but I am enraged that our own citizens suffer because they can not afford healthcare in the richest country in the world.
The answer is not to provide free healthcare to the Northern Triangle. The answer is to tackle the conditions in those countries that are forcing people to leave.
The irony here is there are many US citizens who work three jobs and still can not afford healthcare. How does it make them feel if non US citizens are entitled to free healthcare?
37
It would be wonderful if more medical missions were sent to Central America but people with chronic illnesses can not be allowed into the US for free lifetime care. We have gone from caring for kids with a temp to talking about treatments for autism & ovarian cancer. If Medicare for All & open boarders are the new policies in 2020, we will see massive increases at the border. If you think the waits are long in the ERs now...
24
Why should the government pay for health care in this case when they would not for a citizen? Being sick, fleeing poverty, corruption,or violence is not a reason to enter our country. Process them for return to their home country. Due process should take less than an hour.
25
I am sickened by the responses of those before who claim, "This is not my problem." Did they miss the part in the article where Trump's own anti-immigration rhetoric was the impetus for increasing numbers of immigrants? What you resist, persists. The U.S. needs immigrants. They are vital to our economy and to our growth. Beyond that, we are fellow human beings. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Amazing how many Christians preach that but don't actually practice it.
2
Christians support legal immigration and oppose illegal immigration, because it is a Christian virtue to support the rule of law.
16
So, I guess the reasoning of the bien pensant is that if you invade the US (allegedly as a "refugee," though none of the people passing through Mexico are really refugees, since they've already found refuge in Mexico), you are entitled to free health care, paid for, of course, by the tax-paying US middle class?
I don't care how unpleasant Trump is (and that's pretty unpleasant), I'm voting against the Democrats.
25
As bad as it sounds, the US shouldnt be responsible for non citizens healthcare
75
@Marcin
With all due respect: the first thing all medical personnel’s oath of Hippocrates teaches is, “First do no harm”. To ignore the sickness when you can help is to ignore one’s oath.
A disease many in government and the present administration seem to suffer from.
1
@Marcin
Why shouldn't they? The US is the world's richest country, and much of that wealth has been stolen from poorer countries whose governments the US has upended. Why should they not accept responsibility?
Americans are astonishingly callous and uncaring. As long as they don't personally know someone they don't care if they live or die. And this from a country that pretends to value life! What a joke!
3
First, I want to draw your attention to this outrageous quote by Cecilia Munoz: “It’s a problem of our own making.” In other words, it’s the US’ fault that random illegal immigrants who never followed US law aren’t being treated for their health problems in the US. Note the arrogance and the attitude. This is essentially extortion, where the US is forced into something it never signed up for. Next, as any legal immigrant will tell you, there are medical exams that have to be done before entry into the US is permitted, otherwise entry is denied. This is true of all countries where the world’s immigrants aspire to move, including Canada and Europe.
78
@Eugene
You seem to misunderstand the idea of asylum, as do many others. No one seeking asylum is coming as what you would call an "legal immigrant." They flee their home country in terror, so cannot take years to do paperwork and wait. They are NOT illegal when they come and ask for asylum, but categorized both by American and international law as "asylum seekers."
4
263 is far too many. They are not the responsibility of the USA, anymore than any other country is responsible for my medical care.
56
I loathe Trump but I agree with him 100 percent in this
65
I do not understand why the Central Americans do not seek asylum in Costa Rica or Panama. Both are stable democracies with strong economies; plus everyone speaks Spanish.
The United States already has enough poor and sick people that must be supported. An example is the massive homeless encampments in San Francisco and Los Angeles that overwhelm these two liberal bastions . The Guatemalan in this article should have never left her country with a sick child. It is she and she alone who is responsible for her predicament.
70
@John Quinn
Interestingly, the US is now, depending on how you measure these things, the 2nd or 3rd largest Hispanic country on earth. We’ve done our part. We are the most welcoming, have taken in more people than the rest of the world combined, most diverse country on earth. It’s time to help people fix their problems at home and not just move them here.
40
@AT If we are the most welcoming people, I'd hate to see a country that isn't. Please wake up to the reality that we have become a self-centered, cruel country under Trump with refugees dying at the border, being kidnappped and held for ransom. If you truly are a NYT reader, surely you have read the reports. But I will tell you that I volunteered at the border for 2 months in the last 18 months and here's what I saw: desperate families fleeing for their lives and the U.S. turning them away. Immigrants are some of the hardest working people in our country. Without them, our economy would collapse. Who do you think picks the crops, cooks at restaurants, build your house, etc? Go see for yourself and then come back and tell me if you think we are so welcoming. I am so ashamed of how we are treating folks at the border.
2
@AT @AT If we are the most welcoming people, I'd hate to see a country that isn't. Please wake up to the reality that we have become a self-centered, cruel country under Trump with refugees dying at the border, being kidnappped and held for ransom. If you truly are a NYT reader, surely you have read the reports. But I will tell you that I volunteered at the border for 2 months in the last 18 months and here's what I saw: desperate families fleeing for their lives and the U.S. turning them away. Immigrants are some of the hardest working people in our country. Without them, our economy would collapse. Who do you think picks the crops, cooks at restaurants, build your house, etc? Go see for yourself and then come back and tell me if you think we are so welcoming. I am so ashamed of how we are treating folks at the border but I predict those of us who care about justice will vote Trump out of office and he will pay for his cruelty.
1
We have our own Vets and regular low- or un-insured
folks here who can't get decent health coverage -
why MUST we import more ill ? It's crazy.
But hey, why not open heroin injection sites.
Not insulin or other life saving drugs. Just heroin.
45
It probably cost a family of four $20,000 to get smuggled here so they should have used that for medicine .
We need to focus on getting the cost of healthcare down for us instead of providing healthcare for foreigners .
53
I loathe Trump, but agree with his tough stand on illegal immigration. Please Democrats, wake up - we cannot afford free healthcare to the world, and your open borders policy will give us 4 more years of Trump.
53
@Sue
No Democrat is for open borders, that is a republican lie.
However Democrat’s are opposed to putting children in cages and separating them from their parents.
May I also remind you that we took this country from the native Americans,
And also large parts of Mexico.
So who are the real immigrants?
3
This is the Democratic party's Achilles heel for the upcoming 2020 national elections.
If the Democratic party continues to stand by:
1# there is no crisis at our southern border
2# we need to decriminalization of our borders (19 out 20 democratic contenders supported this proposition)
...then we will lose to Trump!
49
The "migrants" who are trying to illegally enter the country could go to one of the other 30-plus countries in Latin America, where Spanish is spoken. The U.S. doesn't even take care of its own sick and poor; it can no longer redirect scarce resources to those who break the law. Having relatives who succeeded in scamming the system doesn't justify entry.
59
My health care premium is $936 per month. If I line up at the border, can I get free health care?
Just kidding
53
More emotional manipulation instead of having an honest conversation about the hard truths and economic facts... This is precisely how Europe’s extreme far right parties have surged into power across the entire continent... fueled Brexit almost entirely... but any push back on immigration, or even critiquing the broken policies of things like chain migration or birth right citizenship, marks you as a bigot or a racist. Mentioning planes full of pregnant Chinese women coming to the US to have children? I don’t see that written about of featured in the Times. The system is broken and we must be humane, of course. But our national conversation on this issue is also full of half truths and broken as well.
48
Tomorrow in church check out what your presumed "savior" said:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ . . ."
3
@mja
You’ll need to move somewhere else if you want a constitution based on somebody’s holy book. We have the establishment clause In this country. Please, feel free to use your own resources if you so desire, to help anyone you want.
36
@mja If you think Christianity requires spending massive amounts on foreigners, then use your own money, not that of innocent taxpayers.
15
Are we now responsible for the health of anyone seeking entry into the United States, regardless of where in the world they may be?
51
If their health is being affected then blame it on the Mexican government. It was their fault for allowing migrants to enter their country illegally. Or let the coyotes and human traffickers help pay for their care, with the $millions they took from the migrants.
46
Refugees are supposed to seek refuge in the first country whose borders they cross; i.e., refugees from Guatemala should seek refuge in Mexico. However, these are mostly economic migrants who scorn Mexico and seek to score big by getting into the US.
Most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the 20 million illegal immigrants already in the US, much less the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing.
What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
60
Why are all the ills of the world always the fault of the United States? Sometimes other governments and their people essentially self-harm. That’s on them, not us.
56
Refreshing to see the tone of the comments. Trump has changed the debate and more articles like this will win him the election.
53
We have about two million people in custody serving time that we pay their food, medical care and incarceration at the rate of more than 30K per year per prisoner. I suggest we offer them to serve double their custody time free but outside the US, and for anyone accepting such offer we take an immigrant in. That way, we bring good people, export bad people, and we put the 30K to better use. That's a win win, with zero extra cost to the US taxpayer. As an added benefit, we could offer 5K to any country taking in prisoners.
4
@Eliel
They are way ahead of you. Remember the mariel boatlift? Cuba basically emptied it’s jails and asylums on us. That wasn’t the first time we’ve gotten less than a countries best immigrants.
21
With the expanding coronavirus issue now, the matter of these sick and wretched folks gaining entry to the US is remote, if that. And staining in these camps are a recipe for disaster. Poor timing. Too bad thg these people can't get refunds from the human traffickers.
34
@DAWGPOUND HAR
It cost about $6,000 per person to get smuggled into the US by traffickers so the people coming here from south of the border aren't anywhere near as poor as people from Haiti
17
@Molly maybe you are correct. But I think if Trump had not been elected president this country would be in an awful mess from an immigration perspective. That is just the plain truth.
It was even too much for Obama. Bythe end of his term he was referred to the Deporter in Chief. In this regard, I agree with him.
18
Some Americans are dying because they can't afford insulin.
52
@TJ
That's absurd. The cost of new patented insulin is about $30,000 a year. Walmart sells insulin for about one dollar a day. Drug companies want people to believe that new drugs , drugs whose patents haven't expired , are better than ones that are cheap because their patents have expired but that is rarely the case. The molecular structure of the Walmart insulin is the same as that of the new patented insulin
9
@Molly
Am I safe in assuming you don't have Type1 diabetes and rely on insulin to live? Trust me, the Walmart insulins that are very affordable are very different from the newer insulins that reduce the risk of hypoglycemia because they don't have "peak" action.
13
@TJ Yes! Why is that? I used to get insulin for my cat @ $10/bottle. The US needs better health care. My family has VA, Medicare and employer insurance. How about you? How about your neighbor?
3
As this situation worsens stricter protocols are implemented, do we begin calling it a euthanasia program?
4
If you ever wonder why Trump remains competitive for re-election even after all the corruption, self dealing and mayhem for the last 3 years. This is it. Call it cruel but he is on the right side of the immigration policy. Unless Democrats address it, he will be tough to beat.
97
@Raj As someone who might be educated (Princeton after all) please do your homework. Trump and his cruel cronies are on the wrong side of immigration. The US used to be a beacon for immigrants, "give me your tired, your poor." The day we stopped bringing in immigrants who are the hardest working folks I see in this country, is the day we started to become the cruel, heartless and illegitimate democracy we see in the news. To make America "great" again, we must have a comprehensive immigration reform, bringing the 12 million undocumented in the US on a path to citizenship.
No person who is in the slightest degree ill should be allowed into the USA. This includes colds and other minor ailments. We have no responsibility for these people.
62
What does morality say here?
Must a poor man divert the few pennies he has saved for his poor family and give it to the starving migrant?
I dont know.
Please dont pretend America is wealthy nation.
A massive deficit and a hallowed out healthcare system (Medicare and Medicaid) and a vanishing safety net for citizens means we need to think if we can continue to bring in the sick and destitute.
Each medical admission for a seizure or illness runs the taxpayer $10-25,000.
46
@jack A 'poor man' is not taxed for health care-he will have 'Obamacare'. America is an extremely wealthy nation-the top 1% of our population-the billionaires-are not paying their taxes. Do some research on income levels and the tax structure.
8
@jack
We have corrupt overpriced healthcare in this country and the government is the cause of the high cost and corruption not the solution. We have almost no competition for our healthcare dollars . In most counties there is only one insurance option .
The government colludes with the medical industry to keep prices high
2
You must be kidding. We are the richest country in the world. However, insanely low taxes are hallowing out our morality. We are not a poor nation but a selfish nation.
8
There are 33 countries in Latin America. Most of them are Spanish speaking and peaceful.
The only reason someone would choose the United States over most of those countries is economic opportunity.
98
If Mexico is a safe enough interim haven for refugees, why is so much of it, and especially the border areas, on the Do Not Travel consular sheets and off limits for foreign service employees?
8
Just about the so called “instrumentarian society “ [ Zuboff] or “mercantilism “: political incentives framed by nationalism....
health care isn’t understood as an utmost “profitable “ trade on the long run,undeniable it is !
[ See WHO and ILO Papers ].
Demographic policy and superfluous people.
Natural selection and man’s selection not that archaic....[Chapter IV ,Darwin’s The Origin of Species ] .
4
This seems to me to be implying that Mexico and the Mexicans just don't care about these people.
do you really want to say that?
28
I’m very sorry for these poor people. But there are hundreds of thousands of Americans just like them, struggling without health insurance, without homes and mental health care. Why should we accommodate more people who have only terrible health and problems? Canada sets strict policies regarding health, mental and physical. We very much need to do the same. Failure to place the needs of our citizens above the expensive medical needs of immigrants will result in more years of Trump or Trump-like presidents. If companies or nonprofits want to offer care for immigrants they should travel to their home countries. And our top priority as far as aid to these countries should be birth control, for both men and women.
76
@Qui People in the third world usually don't want birth control because they need children to take care of them in old age
3
While I don't support illegal immigration I would support a health care mission for these individuals. With the caveat that no matter what health condition is identified - no one comes back to a US state side hospital.
20
There are eight billion living humans and six and a half billion live in undesirable countries. If you allow humans to overstay their visa and claim asylum or come to the border and claim asylum, then treat all of their medical problems, citizens will be bankrupted. We have 330 million humans in the U.S. right now and we do not need more - especially the unskilled and uneducated that destroy working class wages allowing the 1% to employ cheap labor with bad working conditions.
74
@Enough Humans
If you want to reduce illegal immigration then you should vote for Trump . We generously take in 1,200,000 legal immigrants every year and we don't need to supplement that number with illegals
25
These aren't asylum seekers. They have health problems and want to access our healthcare ( that will be paid for by U.S. tax and premium-paying citizens).
74
The very same anti-seizure medications that we use here in the US are used in Mexico.... and they are much, much cheaper in Mexico. Ms. Sam's son would be worse off in the US compared to Mexico vis-a-vis medical treatment for his epilepsy.....If the goal of this article is to suggest that Trump's border policies are causing morbidity and mortality among migrants, this is not a particularly useful example to use!
62
It seems like the Democrat Presidential candidates should discuss this issue. Treating the difficult medical problems of persons who are not citizens demands their attention. Otherwise, Trump will claim that by keeping out people who each may need millions of dollars in care, he is helping keep America Great for citizens. I do however, find odd the many comments that seem to agree with Trump that criteria about not allowing persons with illnesses entry into the US, that was used at Ellis Island over a century ago, should still be applied.
7
@William McCain
They have. They all raised the hands when asked if they would decriminalize illegal entry and give free healthcare to illegals.
20
Look at these people- Who could not feel empathy for these people? Yet, look around your own neighborhood, town or city and tell me what you see?
My point?
The United States cannot even take care of it own. How much more in taxes are you willing to pay for someone else to have a better life? What are you willing to do for these people to have what you may take for granted?
40
The root of this problem, as with almost all of our most serious social or environmental problems, is overpopulation, but there is no leadership to address it. It will never be possible to provide a decent quality of life for a global population of 7.7 billion, let alone the 10 billion expected later this century. Unable to control their reproductive behavior, humans have chosen quantity over quality.
42
@RC
Central America is ground zero for exactly what you are saying. Mexico and the CA countries have seen their populations rise from between 4 and 6 times since 1950. Example. Mexico 1950- 30 million. Mexico 2020 ~120 million. Our own Population has doubled in this same time frame. We will not make even the slightest headway against the Many environmental problems we face until we come to terms with over population both here and abroad. Shifting the xs millions from the 3rd world to the US simply accelerates global warming and our own impoverishment.
22
@AT
It doesn’t help when trump is busy cutting off aid and closing women’s health clinics.
Don’t want more people?
Provide sex Ed, free contraception and abortion in demand. Starting in grade school.
Including in so called catholic countries.
3
I’m still trying to follow the logic that says because people in foreign countries decide to undertake a long journey, it’s our fault that they are not receiving proper health care. Is it the fault of the United States that people in Guatemala don’t have good health care? Does it become our fault as their proximity to our border increases?
I just don’t see the logic here. If I’m sick, it’s not Denmark’s fault the nearer I get to their border.
73
@Mike There is no mention of 'fault' here. There are people seeking medical treatment at our border. The ability or lack thereof in the Guatemalan system and whether or not the US has played any role in that system is a subject for discussion-but not today-not for the child at the border now.
3
@pat smith
There absolutely is an implication of fault here, both in the article and in your comment.
18
@pat smith there is a mention of fault here; look at this quote by Cecili Muñoz : “It’s a problem of our own making.” You must have missed this outrageous quote when reading the article.
19
Ooof, this is a tough one. I'm relatively liberal. I'm a physician who has spent her career in public and poor community hospitals. My family and my husband's family immigrated here. I have volunteered internationally in disasters, with refugees, and in incredibly poor communities. I have enormous compassion for these people. I want to help them.
But how? Do we let in anyone with an acute or chronic medical condition who can't get adequate care in their own country? That's probably half the planet. Do we wildly expand funding for our public hospitals - and if so, how much will be enough? I spend my days treating hundreds of people who are already here, mostly legally, who don't have access to primary care, or can't afford their medications and co-pays, or just don't have insurance altogether and rely on the ER for their medical needs. Our clinics and hospitals our overcrowded. Our healthcare system is overwhelmed. I don't know how to care for the patients I already have, much less all of these people.
I don't have any answers. I work as hard as I can. I thought that this article was beautiful, poignant, and incredibly sad.
81
@ED DOC
And America's wealth, including that created by undocumented workers who pay all sorts of taxes, goes to the Trumps of this world.
5
Clearly the article is meant to evoke empathy for the migrants. However, the cases cited all seem to be about people who are coming to the US with serious illnesses or who are bringing children with serious illnesses with the expectation that they will be admitted to the US and be able to access free medical care.
Based on the comments, it’s having the opposite effect. And it’s easy to see why. Too many Americans are unable to access needed healthcare, pay for procedures, or pay for their own prescriptions. They are not going to be sympathetic to the migrants.
127
@DP
I’m sure the ~500,000 homeless and 30 million uninsured in the US now will welcome, along with the tax payers who have to fund all this, millions more people needing public assistance. The left has lost its mind.
49
@DP State legislatures, and now the Trump administration are now passing laws restricting access to health care for American citizens (or not) who are not working/or in school. It must depend on how sick one is if he she has to show employment in order to get medical treatment.
4
@AT Why are there 500,000 homeless and 30 million uninsured? That is the question that the Democratic candidates are working on. Most people in the US have great health care. Many do not-why?
9
Greece does not restrict entry to asylum seekers (yet). I recently came across an article that documented the impact on the health care system that this large number of additional people, also with various health care needs, has had. Unfortunately I don't have the specific citation in front of me but the gist of report is that Greek citizens are not able to get their health care needs met and the burden of providing health care to asylum seekers is the prime reason. Especially so on the islands. A government's first responsibility should be the well being of its own citizens. Here in Canada asylum seekers and refugees receive extended health care benefits, such as prescriptions and eye exams, that are not available to the rest of us. To me that does not make sense. If the resources are not available for their own citizens why is it for irregular migrants?
80
@S Sm Canada's system is given as an example of a good one. Why can S Sm not get prescriptions or eye exams?
4
@pat smith - i can get prescriptions or eye exams but i pay out of pocket. Refugees and those awaiting asylum claims do not. Before i turned 65 I was receiving Canada Pension Plan disability benefits, which has no supplemental health benefits. Because of a combination of circumstances I did not receive health insurance from my former employer. The only other option which was not available to me was health benefits under the provincial disability program. They had, at the time, a cap around CAD 900 income - I was over that amount. I have basic medical coverage, visits to doctor and hospital, through provincial coverage. But that is it.
5
@S Sm - I should have clarified that the provincial disability program is welfare (in British Columbia). They will provide supplemental health coverage for CPP disability recipients but only up to the allowed amount of the disability welfare cap.
5
I am a legal immigrant. I paid taxes for 30 years. I paid into health insurance for 30 years. Then I was laid off my job and did not take COBRA, because the monthly cost was more than my mortgage and more than half of my unemployment benefits. I had always been healthy. Then, when I had an accident, when the ambulance arrived, I was told not to go to the hospital, because I owned my home. Because I owned a home, there was no program for me, I am one stuck in the middle. I did not receive treatment for my injury for more than six months, when I qualified under Obamacare, because insurance was not allowed to deny me for my now pre-existing condition. I left the US, my home, and the place I raised my children, after 30 years and returned to my home country, which has healthcare. The author seems to suggest we should help anyone at the border, or who manages to get inside the US, with a health condition. The US doesn't treat its own people and they should come first. There are plenty of people who are sick and dying in the US, due to lack of healthcare, being ill does not qualify you for asylum. When I immigrated to the US, I received a medical check and was tested for TB and AIDs. I also required two sponsors who agreed to support me for five years should I not be able to support myself. It's madness to think that we should have to take in people with incurable diseases and pay for their care, when diabetics are having to share insulin. I sympathize, but sorry, no.
127
@thewriterstuff
Your personal story, however upsetting and shocking and wrong, need not interfere with having compassion for those in situations different than you.
4
@Anthony
And your story does entitle people to come here for free medical care. I don’t care how compassionate people may be, they are not entitled by their compassion to give away other people’s taxes and space in an already broke and over populated country to outsiders.
26
@thewriterstuff
In that case the problem is that obamacare doesn't allow you to buy insurance exclusively for catastrophic care because if you could it would be 75% less expensive per month ( maybe 85%) than obamacare .
Doctors spend tens, maybe hundreds of thousands a year on paper work as do insurance companies , employee benefits managers and others and pass this cost to us. if people paid cash for simple things costs would go down
5
Here in California we have hundreds of thousands of people, including children, sleeping in the street every night. No healthcare, no nothing. Until this country can figure out how to take care of these people, we have absolutely no business taking in the overpopulated hordes of Central America. More than any other reason, this is why Trump will be our president for another 4 years.
157
@LA Realist
Thanks for your comment. It is mostly right. Except the part about Trump.
Trump might have toned down his rhetoric after the election and tried to work with politicians on the other side of the divide to achieve what might be possible via immigration reform.
But he has botched this issue. Part of it is his rhetoric. Part of it is his incompetence. (He can't run his own Cabinet.) Part of it is superficiality, such as firing his staff via tweet.
The devil is in the details. Yes, Trump saw that America confronted a problem with immigration. But he has not been able to make real progress on that problem.
He doesn't realize that to get things done in a democracy requires negotiation not confrontation.
Vote for Bloomberg, and restore negotiation to Congress. Democrats and Republicans need to start talking with each other again.
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@LA Realist Except Trump doesn't seem too preoccupied with helping sick and homeless Americans either.
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@LA Realist
Agreed.
First we need to rid California of the corrupt one party Democrats.
The Democrats have ruined California.
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It is not possble to not wish these people well, but when you describe children with chronic seizure disorders and lissencephaly, chances are near 100% these folks are not fleeing violence, but seeking medical care. Nothing can cure lissencephaly. Our citizens lack care-sorry we must fix that first. Our health care system is problematic enough, the US govenment and we taxpayers are not responsible for providing free health care for whoever shows up at the border. Policies to help other nations provide better care, major charities (think Gates etc,) to help them but we cannot kerp saying yes to folks who show up at the border and no to our own citizens.
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@Honeybluestar careful, that qualifies you as an “America First” nationalist and racist according to the new Democrat platform.
You should happily pay your various taxes and pay the $5000 bill when you give birth. You pay this much because there is no way to secure payment from illegal immigrants and birth tourists.
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@Emily S The constitution doesn't mandate citizenship at birth for the children of illegals
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@Molly I agree, but the Supreme Court has thus far not declared that to be the law. A couple more Trump appointees and we may regain control over our country and over who is a citizen.
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Get medical treatment in Mexico or the country of origin. We aren’t here to provide medical services for the world.
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Oh yeah, just let them all die. Just like the Republican plan for poor US citizens. It’s the Christian GOP thing to do.
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@Michael Fifty million humans die every year worldwide. If you want to help them, especially the ones outside the U.S., you are free to sent your money to the appropriate charity or go to the border to volunteer. As you can see from most of the comments, many, including myself, do not want any government funds used to treat the medical problems of asylum seekers. Note that the majority asylum seekers' cases are denied.
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@Michael
it's the big government socialists who drive up the cost of healthcare tuition and everything else making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Talk to people who lived in socialist countries about the poverty there
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There are over 20 million foreign nationals currently residing in our country ILLEGALLY...exploiting our porous borders, our public services, schools, hospitals, and birthright citizenship laws.
Who pays for all of these provisions? We do!...at a cost to American taxpayers in the $Billions...year after year after year.
Enough!
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@Susanna
Agreed.
We need to take care of the 'migrants' who are now.
The USA is not responsible for decades of corrupt Central American politicians.
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@Susanna
Sorry folks but immigrants actually bolster the economy.
They work, pay taxes, rent, groceries.
I’ve worked with immigrants for 35 years and never seen any bilking the system.
On the other hand there are plenty of free loading Americans .
I’m not saying let the whole world in.
I’m saying the narrative that immigrants come here and live off the bounty of tax payers is totally false. I’m saying the vast majority of immigrants are hard working and contribute.
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Are you suggesting we take in and provide free healthcare to millions who have never paid into the system? We already do that. NHS is on the brink of collapse due to the overwhelming immigration they have experienced. Universal Healthcare cannot be supplied to those who have never paid in to the system.
480,000 children are born here each year to illegal immigrants and birth tourism. Only 400,000 are born to citizens. That’s shameful. I want my children to have universal healthcare. We can have mass immigration and open borders or healthcare. We can’t have both. Sorry, that’s life.
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According to a NYT article (May 17th 2019), 3,788 million babies were born in the USA in 2018. There must be something wrong with your 400.000 vs. 480.000.
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@Emily S Actually you can have a multi decade plan with an organized set of targets for legal immigration and transition of illegals as well as a strategy to solve healthcare. But you can't get that with a POTUS who cannot comprehend anything beyond an angry tweet. This President has failed to set any possible course to solving the nation's biggest problems. Instead let's leave people to die and declare victory for all the lucky ones who immigrated here before our government failed us.
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@Emily S That is why birthright citizenship is an INSANE idea.
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We have more immigrants than any other country.
Immigration as a percent of population tripled between 1970 and 2018.
Too many immigrants seem to be correlated with encouraging right-wing politics.
Yes, it’s too bad every country is not as great as the west is, but there seem to be limits to what is a healthy influx of immigration. What you should be doing, IMO, is talking about how we can help people in their own countries. Even that may not be great right now in this time of excessive political unrest.
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@Karen
So let me get this straight: Immigrants are at fault for the racism and intolerance of their tormentors?
I believe they call that victim shaming.
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Critical question seems to be why the migrants from Central America are not requesting asylum in Mexico. And, always the lurking question. Is this asylum shopping? Assuming this continues, serious diplomatic problems are going to develop.
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Could it be because Mexico has been destroyed by violence, with millions of guns flooding in from the US and demand for drugs over here fueling horrid violence? Is it because gangs are abducting refugees and violating them in every possible way? The US spent decades plundering Central America, bolstering abusives regimes for our own gain. Now that people are fleeing from conditions we created and benefited from, “we have to take care of our own first”? I’m frankly disgusted with the sentiments expressed by most commenters here, ignorant of history and showing no compassion. This country truly elected trump for a reason.
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@Gean S I'm frankly disgusted with the sentiment you express. Always blame America. At someplace, sometime, nations have a responsibility for the well-being of their people. And citizens of their respective nation, have a responsibility to that country to provide for the general health, security and welfare of their fellow countrymen. Otherwise, it is absolute pandemonium.
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Were this the way the United States operated a century ago, my family going back 3 generations simply would not exist. Not just in the U.S., I mean we would have long ago perished.
I'm sure the same would be true for most Americans, the same ones now fighting to pull up the drawbridge now that they're safe in their culled-de-sac enclaves.
Never forget THE defining attribute that has (so far) made us a great nation: E pluribus Unum.
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@Andrew Lee
What exactly should be the limits on immigration to the U.S.? None?
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What Article and Section of the Constitution authorizes US taxpayers to underwrite healthcare for foreigners?
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@Charles - I believe the 1967 Protocol on Refugees is the defining document. The US is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Trump withdrew the US from the Global Compact on Migration (which Obama and Mexico signed onto). The Compact's mandate is at odds with Trumps view on illegal/irregular migration. Never hear anything in the news anymore about the Global Compact on Migration.
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This American Life did an excellent episode on this. People are being summarily sent to makeshift camps with no security or decent accommodation (even by refugee camp standards) to be abducted, raped, and harassed on the border of Mexico, where gangs are expecting them every day. This is in violation of international laws and human decency. All of them should be let in to await asylum in the US, like we have done for decades, to await their hearings.
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@Gean S So let them go home. They have a nice safe place in their home countries. All the lies about asylum are simply made up, and often coached by immigration attorneys.
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@Gean S
The U.S did not invite these 'migrants' let their corrupt politicians take care of them.
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Too bad; things change
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What makes this Trump-inspired program really cool is that allows millions of Texans and others along the border the chance to pretend that the plight of the migrants does not exist any more. Other than the heroic cross-border work of some local groups like Team Brownsville and Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, most Texans live without worrying about a human rights crisis no more that 50 miles from where I Ilive. I have sat in on civic club meetings where Americans have said that they didn't realize this crisis was going on, even as speakers tell them that it is going on. Keeping these migrants homeless, sick, and across the river might be good politics, but it is a damning portrait of our country's values.
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Keep these sickly people out of the USA. We can not afford to take care of our own people (see the homeless on the streets) so it certainly is wrong to let sick migrants into this country to suck off our healthcare.
Trump is right on this. It is Mexico’s problem
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@Nycdweller That's why Trump will be re-elected.
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“The Trump administration is banking on the notion that if the problem is on the other side of the border, it’s not our problem, even though it is of our making.”
A problem of our making? Wow... In other words, the worlds’ problems are all our fault. People aren’t responsible for their own personal decisions to have kids they can’t afford, allow their countries to become hell holes of violence, poverty and famine, it’s America’s problem. There was a time when these problems were such, and conditions at home were such, that America could help more... but the world, and America, are now very different places and that time is long past.
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Many of the conditions they describe in the article are chronic and disabling, or have a short life expectancy despite exoensive treatments. We already expend too many resources towards the end of life, which is something we need to change.
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Are you suggesting we let them in and offer them our free healthcare that we do not have? I deeply sympathize these people’s situation however i am worried more about our own children that cannot get access to healthcare and are forced to pay outrageous costs. Have they been here they would be using our hospitals for free and we would have been paying the bills. Which is what we already do in New York and California.
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@KatyNYC
Refugees are supposed to seek refuge in the first country whose borders they cross; i.e., refugees from Guatemala should seek refuge in Mexico. However, these are mostly economic migrants who scorn Mexico and seek to score big by getting into the US.
Most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the 20 million illegal immigrants already in the US, much less the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing.
What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
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The USA can't bear the brunt of this.
We have many mass shootings in the USA and high singular gun crimes, it is not safe for asylum seekers to be here. They're safer staying in Mexico.
Mexico has been stopping them at their southern border.
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Healthcare has always been a target of this administration and the GOP. In their view, only politicians and the rich should have healthcare.
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@Michael Not true. Majority of Americans , like me, get healthcare thru work...we are happy with our private insurance! Bernie and Warren, the whole democratic party can't understand that concept.
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And what will happen should you ever lose your job? And you can’t find another one immediately that offered Benefits? And if Trump and the GOP have their way, you won’t be able to get insurance if you ever develop a pre-existing condition —- which, BTW, everyone does at some point after the age of 35? And with the current deregulated state of affairs, without insurance, you could be just one health episode away from complete bankruptcy.
Have you ever thought of that? Maybe Mediare for all isn’t the answer. But maybe Medicare buy-in or lowering the age of Medicare. Or something that protects people from the Republicans plans to strip Americans of every possible benefit.
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@Swing State Voter
Maybe. maybe ,maybe...if , ands , or, buts...here is the here and now: Private insurance works, and i'm way over age 35.
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