Tag Archives: Citizenship

January 28, 2013 · 12:03 AM

Arizona Bill Requires Hospitals To Screen Immigration Status Of Uninsured Patients

So much for: 

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free…” ~ Emma Lazarus

This proposal is wrong on so many levels.  Does this “bill” demand that someone who is gravely ill and does not have their “papers” must be denied care and reported to immigration?  Think of the scenarios in which our country would abandon and deport people while ill.

Think Progress

Hospitals would need to check the immigration status of uninsured patients under a new bill introduced by an Arizona lawmaker. Rep. Steve Smith’s (R) H.B. 2293 would require hospital staff to “reasonably confirm” patients’ status during check-in or treatment, and immediately report those who do not have the required papers to immigration officials.

Smith claimed it is a hospital’s civic duty to check immigration status:

“I would hope if you witnessed somebody who is not lawfully present in this country taking advantage of, getting, acquiring any benefit or social service or something that they’re not entitled to, or something they’re abusing or neglected, I would hope somebody would pick up the phone and go, ‘Maricopa police, Buckeye police, I think — I’m not sure — but I think this is happening.”’

The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association has already rejected the attempt to turn hospitals into another front for immigration enforcement: “When does this begin or end?” a spokesman said. “What other industry should be screening their customers for citizenship verification?” The National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights and National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health also called the measure “unconscionable” and legalized “harassment“.  With roughly 19 percent of Arizona’s population lacking health insurance, the bill could deter many immigrants and their children from seeking care, as well as burden hospitals.

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September 27, 2012 · 8:25 AM

Florida Officially Restarts Voter Purge, Revised List Still Appears To Be Inaccurate

I hope the people promoting voter suppression realize that the American people targeted, will not be intimidated.

The elderly, students,  Hispanics and African-Americans will not be denied their vote by the Right-Wing’s underhanded tactics to put Mitt Romney in The White House…

Think Progress

Florida has officially restarted it’s controversial purge of registered voters less than 6 weeks before election day. Governor Scott’s intention to resume the effort, detailed in a PowerPoint presentation, was first reported by ThinkProgress.

Initially, Florida identified 180,000 potential non-citizens to be purged from the voter rolls. That list was subsequently narrowed down to 2600 “sure fire” non-citizens. When it became clear in early June that even the smaller list was riddled with errors, elections officials stopped the effort.

According to the Miami Herald, Florida has sent just 198 names to local election supervisors. (Of those, no more than 36 have ever cast a ballot.) But there is already evidence that the latest list still is not accurate. From the Herald:

For voters like Yeral Arroliga, it’s a pain.

Arroliga, 25, who immigrated from Nicaragua in 1995, said he already sent his proof of citizenship earlier this summer under the first version of the purge program. He’s ready to do it again, after ending up on the new list. But he’s not happy about it.

“It sounds like you have Big Brother watching over you,” he told The Herald. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

Of this list of 198 potential non-citizens, about 58 percent are minority — 41 percent Hispanic and 17 percent black.

Multiple election officials have spoken out against the latest purge. Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall, a Republican, told ThinkProgress “It just doesn’t help us whatsoever… It’s awful.”

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November 12, 2010 · 8:32 AM

Tennessee GOPer Curry Todd: Illegal Immigrants Will Multiply ‘Like Rats’ (VIDEO)

It seems disgusting racist rhetoric is quite prevalent among right-wingers.  This GOPer appears to be following his right-wing colleagues….

Huffington Post

Tennessee State Rep. Curry Todd took his dissatisfaction with the birthright citizenship clause in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to a strange level this week, when he suggested that pregnant immigrants will “multiply” like “rats” if they are not asked about their citizenship status.

During a discussion about procedures for approving patients for health care access, Todd asked a panel of prenatal health care officials if they require potential patients to show proof of citizenship in order to be accepted for treatment.

One woman then explained that such a process is not necessary — and is in fact prohibited — because unborn children will become United States citizens upon birth.

“There’s a technical guidance letter that states that, for covering the unborn child, we are not permitted to determine citizenship because the child, once born, is a U.S. citizen,” the woman explained.

“They can go out there like rats and multiply, then,” Todd responded.

According to the Associated Press, Rep. Todd later agreed that he had used harsh wording.

“I was actually wrong, and I admit when I’m wrong,” Todd said, before clarifying that he should have used the term “anchor babies” instead — presumably in an entirely different sentence.

He then qualified that statement, however, by saying that the issue is actually a serious concern that needed to be addressed.

Many in the GOP, like Rep. Todd, have voiced strong concern over the 14th Amendment. ThinkProgress reported in October that 130 congressional Republicans favored ending birthright citizenship, not including a swath of newly elected GOPers.

Watch:

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