Maybe each of us should start informing people just what Mexico's immigration policy is like compared to what OUR congress will propose. If someone could make up a "Concerned About Illegal Immigration" tastefully done flyer with that information, others could print them out, make copies, post them on bulletin boards, in libraries, send letters to the editors, distribute them to meetings, enclose them with bills you pay, scan them and send them via email...get the word out as many ways as we can. And as quickly as we can. Request that the recipient feel free to make copies and pass it on to as many people as he can.
Perhaps include a list of how much each illegal costs taxpayers in terms of medical, educational, tax credits and all other benefits.
I wish I could find such a flyer. I'd print off a ream of them and get them out pronto. No sense wasting a stamp on sending them to concress critters though. They had their chance and blew it. On second thought, if members of congress got enough of them, they'd know we know.
Add in that we need maassive protest rallies. We also need to gather as many legal hispanics and legal hispanic business owners as possible to support the cause.
Here's one article on costs:
States pay millions to treat illegal immigrants
Emergency health care in 2000 was costliest for California border counties, where the total was $79.6 million, a study reports
By Julia Malone
COX NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Communities along the nation's Southwest border are spending more than $200 million a year to provide health care for illegal immigrants, a report released Thursday said.
The report, based on a survey of hospitals, provides the most detailed estimates yet for an expense that officials say is straining hospitals and forcing some to shut down emergency and trauma services. The study was conducted by the Border Counties Coalition, which includes the 24 U.S. counties that touch Mexico.
The losses are "staggering," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who obtained funds for the study as part of his campaign to win federal reimbursement for the 17 states with the most illegal residents.
Kyl said the findings "were even worse than we thought."
Under federal law, hospitals are required to provide emergency care for anyone who seeks it, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. The mandate hits hardest in the 24 border counties of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California that were the focus of the study.
Among the findings:
• About 25 percent of the unreimbursed health services in these border areas goes to people who lack legal status.
• Emergency hospital care for illegal aliens in 2000 was costliest for the counties in California, where the total was $79.6 million. Texas was next at $74 million, followed by Arizona at $30 million and New Mexico at nearly $6 million.
• Ambulance providers incurred $13 million in expenses in the four states, the study estimated.
• The majority of the cases involved illegal residents who live and work in the United States but who lack health insurance or the ability to pay for medical treatment.
• About 10 percent of the costs can be traced to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which sends emergency cases to hospitals, leaving the community to pick up the tab.
• About 30 percent of the unreimbursed costs were for childbirths, either for illegal residents living in the United States or for women who cross the Mexican border just as they are about to give birth.
Pregnant women seeking to have their babies born as American citizens "sometimes arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border shortly before delivery and are rushed to the emergency room for the birth," said the study, citing New Mexico and California officials.
Such cases are more rare in Texas, the study found, although hospitals there reported that women "did sometimes walk across the border so their children could be born in the United States."
The study's author, Robin Herskowitz of the Austin, Texas, firm MGT of America, said Thursday the most startling incident was reported by hospital officials in Imperial County, Calif.
Officials there said a bus loaded with pregnant women had pulled up to the border crossing three years ago and waited while the women, one by one, went into labor and then crossed the border to seek emergency care.
U.S. border officials have a policy of allowing temporary entry for medical emergencies.
Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said medical emergency entry has become another loophole at the borders. He said INS officials do not track these patients or make certain they leave the United States when they are released from the hospital.
Kolbe said his advice to would-be terrorists is "Get injured," enter a U.S. hospital for treatment and then "go on your merry way."
An INS official confirmed that injured persons are allowed emergency entry. She said port authorities were responsible for making sure they leave the country after treatment.
Although the study focused on border counties, the problem of unreimbursed medical costs for illegal immigrants appears to be growing in many states. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, recently began a nationwide study of the problem.
The Florida Hospital Association recently gathered 700 case studies of long-term care for illegal residents, including one patient whose unpaid bill is $1.3 million and rising.
"It's all over the state," said Kim Streit, spokeswoman for the Florida group, which estimates the medical bill for illegal immigrants there is $38 million for the past two years. "Clearly we need some kind of relief.".
Lawmakers such as Kyl and Kolbe say the federal government should foot the bill for the illegal aliens.
"Controlling immigration is a federal responsibility," Kolbe said, arguing that because the government has failed to stop the illegal flow, it should pay for the consequences.