Sunday, January 7, 2007

Report: 40 percent of county's Medi-Cal births to illegal immigrants

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- A state report quietly released last spring shows
illegal immigrants made up the largest single group of those giving
birth at taxpayer expense in the state and in San Diego County in 2004.

The May report, "Medi-Cal Funded Deliveries," states that of the 14,350
taxpayer-funded births in the county that year, 5,814, or 40.5 percent,
were to illegal immigrants. That is an 18 percent increase over the
4,916 Medi-Cal-funded deliveries to illegal immigrants in San Diego
County in 2001, as shown in an earlier state report.

On Friday morning, Vista resident Silvia stopped to talk with a visitor
as she headed into the Vista Community Clinic with her 1-year-old son
in her arms and her 4-year-old son in tow. The 24-year-old woman said
in Spanish that she is an illegal immigrant and has lived in the United
States for 10 years. She spoke on the condition that her last name not
be published.

Silvia, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, said Medi-Cal paid labor and
delivery costs for both of her children, and added that she is
frustrated that now she has to pay for their medical care and that she
expected Friday's doctor visit to cost her $35.

"I think they should pay," said the woman who earns $11 an hour at a
local factory but receives no health benefits. "I buy things, I pay
taxes."

A few minutes later, a woman named Maria was leaving the clinic with
her 6-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter. The 27-year-old native of
San Luis, Mexico, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said
she is a single mom who struggles to survive by cleaning houses. She
said she has lived in the U.S. for 13 years and is an illegal
immigrant. Medi-Cal paid the delivery costs for her children, Maria
said, adding that she is grateful for the help.

"I think I should pay, but I can't," said Maria, as she waited at the
bus stop.

Statewide in 2004, providers delivered 248,086 babies at taxpayers'
expense, according to the report. Of those, 105,665, or 42.6 percent,
were to illegal immigrants. That's a 13.5 percent increase over the
93,094 Medi-Cal-funded deliveries to illegal immigrants in the state in
2001, as shown in the earlier report.

At an average cost of $3,224 each for 74,835 vaginal deliveries and
$5,153 each for 30,830 Cesarean deliveries in 2004, the total cost to
taxpayers ran more than $400 million. Of that total, about $22 million
was for births in San Diego County.

The amounts included doctors' fees and, in many cases, pre- and
postnatal care.

Despite the cost, a local doctor says the money is a necessary
investment.

Bernard Wosk, a physician at the nonprofit Vista Community Clinic,
immigrated to the U.S. from his native Nicaragua 20 years ago. He said
he has prenatal patients who are illegal immigrants.

Wosk said he understands that laws are necessary to stop illegal
immigration.

"But the point is they are already here and if you are talking about
taxpayer money, it has been proven that the more you spend on prenatal
care, the more you save in the mid- and long-term," Wosk said.
"Moneywise, it makes sense and humanitarianwise, you can't turn your
back on a newborn."

San Diego County's 5,814 births to illegal immigrants in 2004 placed it
third in the rankings of the 58 counties in the state. Topping the list
was Los Angeles County, with 41,240, followed by Orange County, with
10,979 births to illegal immigrant mothers.

'Birthright citizenship'

According to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, "All persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside."

But the U.S. Supreme Court has never categorically ruled that children
of illegal immigrants are entitled to so-called birthright citizenship.

Over the years, Congressman Brian Bilbray, who previously represented
the 49th Congressional District and now represents the 50th District,
has co-sponsored several bills that aimed to end "birthright
citizenship" to children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents.
None of the bills passed. Most recently, Bilbray co-sponsored HR 698,
the Citizenship Reform Act of 2005, which died before Congress could
discuss it.

In an interview Wednesday from Washington, Bilbray said he is planning
to introduce the bill in the current legislative year.

"This is an absolutely absurd situation that no reasonable nation
should allow to continue," Bilbray said. "The federal government is the
biggest deadbeat dad in the country because they have walked away from
this baby that is their responsibility."

Asked what he thinks should be done when an illegal immigrant woman
walks into an emergency room and is ready to deliver a baby and has no
money, Bilbray said, "At least you don't write a welfare check for her
after she delivers.

"They not only get free birth, they get aid for dependent children," he
said. "When you start giving one benefit based on someone breaking the
law, it leads to another benefit, then another benefit."

Bilbray said that many of the illegal immigrants who are recent
arrivals to the United States have a much higher rate of complications
when giving birth because of poor nutrition.

"Some of those births turn out to be extremely expensive," he said.

Opponents vow to fight

Opponents to legislation that would remove the right to automatic
birthright citizenship say that such a law would face constitutional
challenges. They say the only way birthright citizenship will ever end
would be through the approval of another constitutional amendment.

And that is a much higher hurdle. A constitutional amendment can be
made if requested by two-thirds of both houses of Congress or by the
legislatures of two-thirds of the states. Then, the legislatures in
three-fourths of the states would have to ratify such an amendment for
it to become part of the U.S. Constitution.

A spokesman for the San Diego-based, human-rights organization American
Friends Service Committee said Wednesday it's easy to condemn illegal
immigrants when looking at only one part of the picture.

For example, many illegal immigrants use Social Security numbers that
are made up or that belong to others.

Money deducted from wages for Social Security is money the illegal
immigrants will never see again, said Pedro Rios, San Diego office
director for the Quaker organization.

Illegal immigrants also pay sales tax every time they go to the store
and other federal and state taxes every time they buy gasoline, he said.

"These are all things that aren't being looked at," Rios said.

Like Vista Community Clinic doctor Wosk, Rios said that paying for pre-
and postnatal care and delivery costs saves the taxpayers more money
because it makes for safer, less-expensive deliveries and healthier
babies and mothers, who are less likely to be a taxpayer burden further
down the road.

Bilbray said that such an argument simply shows that illegal immigrants
are holding society hostage.

"It ends up being an extortion game," he said.

"Illegal immigrants are telling taxpayers, 'Either you pay for us now
or pay us more much later,' " Bilbray said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/07/news/top_stories/20_40_021_6_
07.txt

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PLEASE EMAIL THESE LINKS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW:

"The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave" by Heather MacDonald
www.City-Journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html

www.PredatoryAliens.com
www.ImmigrationsHumanCost.org
www.DayLaborers.org
www.Alipac.us
www.ImmigrationWatchdog.com
www.AmericanPatrol.com
www.SaveOurState.org
www.EscapingJustice.com

See the COLOSSAL costs of illegal aliens to the American taxpayer:
www.ImmigrationCounters.com
------------------------------------------------
"How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico"
By John Dillin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html

Excerpt:

"General Eisenhower ... quoted a report in The New York Times,
highlighting one paragraph that said: 'The rise in illegal
border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than
1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation
in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters
of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal
Government ..."

"Herbert Brownell Jr., Eisenhower's first attorney general, said the
president had a sense of urgency about illegal immigration when he took
office.

"America 'was faced with a breakdown in law enforcement on a very
large scale,' Mr. Brownell said. 'When I say large scale, I mean
hundreds of thousands were coming in from Mexico [every year] without
restraint.'"
--------------------------------------------------
Just two of MANY American cops murdered by illegals:
www.DeputyDavidMarch.com
www.KrisEggle.org

"Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged
in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent Social Security
numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses
represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of
illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their
illegal status. In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and
possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens. Over 25% of today's
federal prison population are illegal aliens. In some areas of the
country, 12% of felonies, 25% of burglaries and 34% of thefts are
committed by illegal aliens."

-- Testimony of District Attorney John M. Morganelli before the House
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border, Security and Claims [Note: 99% of
warrants for murder in Los Angeles, California -- the USA's 2nd
most-populous city -- are for illegal aliens]

"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of
men."
-- Samuel Adams

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Report: 40 percent of county's Medi-Cal births to illegal immigrants

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of
men."
-- Samuel Adams