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Posted on 10/15/2003 9:58:32 AM PDT by Deadeye Division
Man’s care stretches officials’ compassion
Delaware County must foot nursing-home bill for disabled
illegal immigrant
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Susan Robinson
THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
DELAWARE, Ohio — Delaware County taxpayers might have to shell out at least $236,000 for the nursing-home care of a permanently disabled illegal immigrant.
Unless a state or federal agency intervenes, the county will be obligated to pay for the 19-year-old man’s care — at more than $118,000 a year — until he turns 21, said Mona Reilly, director of the county Department of Job and Family Services.
The county has been covering the man’s medical expenses for some time, but the arrangement didn’t become public until this week when Reilly raised the issue at a meeting of the county commissioners.
Reilly said that under her department’s interpretation of Ohio law, the county must provide for the man’s care — with no help from the state or the federal government — because he is a minor and an illegal immigrant.
Because the man is disabled, he’ll be considered a minor until age 21, Reilly said. State law requires her department to serve "any child" in the county.
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, a Republican from Columbus whose district encompasses Delaware County, said Reilly’s interpretation appears to be "absolutely correct."
"There is no federal assistance for this young man," spokesman Bruce Cuthbertson said. He added, however, that Tiberi’s office will continue to look into the matter if county officials request help.
Reilly said an informal survey of her counterparts across the state turned up no precedent for such a case.
She declined to identify the man or his nationality.
She also said medicalprivacy guidelines prevent her from disclosing how long or how much the county already has paid for his care.
She did say the county has worked with the man’s family for several years.
His mother is dead. His father, also an illegal immigrant, makes monthly support payments, but each covers less than a day of nursing-home care — at $325 a day.
County officials petitioned the federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to grant the man legal-resident status — a designation that would make him eligible for other public assistance, such as Medicaid.
"It just takes a long time," Reilly said.
Deportation doesn’t appear to be an option, for now.
Reilly said her department reported the man’s illegal status to deportation officials within the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as required by law.
"They said as long as there is no criminal activity, they would not be getting involved," Reilly said. Being in the country illegally, she said, apparently doesn’t meet the agency’s definition of criminal activity.
Neither of the two immigration bureaus responded to messages left yesterday.
Still unclear is what will happen to the man if he hasn’t obtained legal-resident status by the time he turns 21.
At that point, Reilly said, he might qualify for assistance from the county Board of Developmental Disabilities, which has access to state and federal funds.
Robert Morgan, the board’s director, said last night, however, that even that money might be off-limits to an illegal immigrant, placing the burden back on county taxpayers.
County commissioners on Monday accepted Reilly’s stopgap plan and approved an agreement with Villa Angela Care Center, based in Columbus, to care for the man.
Reilly said the county has paid Villa Angela $136,376 during the past two years, but she refused to specify how much of that was for the man’s care.
County officials said money for the man’s nursing-home bills will come from the general fund because no other fund exists for such an expense.
Commissioner Jim Ward said he has asked Prosecutor David Yost to review the matter.
"Our federal government claims this person is an illegal alien and therefore they don’t have to provide any care, so they push it off on the state government — and the state pushes it off on the county," Ward said.
"I feel sorry for the child, but there needs to be some shared responsibility."
srobinson@thisweeknews.com
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That would explain some things....
"I feel sorry for the child, but there needs to be some shared responsibility."
She means shared between Federal, state and county. How about some individual responsibility...
While Terri Schiavo is being starved to death.
However, this is a simple matter to remedy: we merely need to pass a law requiring that the medical & educational expenses of illegal immigrants be paid from the campaign funds (and book sales) of those who refuse to end those benefits. Just let me call my congressman...
A quirk in the law requires the government to treat the 19 year old as a child, but it's fairly ridiculous to call him one.
He didn't earn citizenship, he NEEDS it. Or more precisely, the County needs to shift the burden to a larger tax base.
I'm sorry, but WTF? Dump him in a home for the indigent. Or stabilize him and transport him back to his home town and country. Why isn't there some international agreement on this?
Oh, yeah - this is the answer - just shift the cost of this ILLEGAL (meaning law-breaking) alien to ALL taxpayers....
How about we ship him back to wherever he came from for his country of origin to take care of, along with his illegal alien father.
No wonder illegals are still flooding across the borders - it's a free for all for everyone except those who want to follow the law and be honest workers.
Actually, that seems like a good thing to do for all illegal immigrants.
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