Immigration Status Questions To Expand To Healthcare?

JOLLIEHOLLY, RN · Jul 29, 2007

hi guys! i was wondering if i could get some input on your thoughts regarding where healthcare is heading with our countries illegal immigrants. in a town very near mine they have made our local sherrifs department's deputies be appointed / deputized also as federal immigration ins worker.so now ...they patrol for illegal immigrants...anytime they stop a person who "appears" to maybe be here illegally they have the authority to detain them and actually contact ins and ship them back to their home country. this..worries me that it may actually trend over into healthcare...so that when a patient enters thru a er door one of the first questions they may be asked is "what is your immigration status?".already...as many of us know...alot of illegal immigrants wait until they are so very very sick before they even seek healthcare treatment...i'd hate to think what will happen when or ..if...we have to begin "patroling" patients regarding their immigration status. are any nurses working in facilities that allowed to even ask about immigration status?...tell me how your state handles this...or if they even address it at all.in my state we dont ask...and i pray it stays that way!but i will be interested to see "how" other states address this issue...if they address it at all. thanks!

hello. in florida police officers are not allowed to ask about immigration status at routine traffic stops. plus, i think when a cop asks immigration status, i'm sure everyone lies about it. i am very against illegal activity, never had law breaking as one of my hobbies. so if a police officer wants to enforce the law by sending an illegal home, go for it. millions of people every year come here and get major surgeries/hospitalizations that are never paid for. it is not only the illegals contributing to this problem, many people feel they are entitled to welfare, and use the government for frequent hospitalizations that are not necessary. this activity will eventually bankrupt the health care system.

kcochrane · Jul 29, 2007

This activity will eventually bankrupt the health care system.

It has bankrupted many hospitals - especially at the border. Some put the number at 77 with California at 60 alone.

I am totally for creating more worker visas so more people can come in and work "legally". And those that have been on waiting lists for years and doing it the right way have a fair chance. Illegal is illegal.

Even if police officers start to target people in hospitals, I can't believe they would be able to just deport them at that time. They would have to medically stable and properly discharged as they do with anyone breaking the law.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2007

I would worry about it if it happens, which I seriously doubt it will. I imagine that the nurses wouldn't be the ones posing the questions, but admissions would, in the highly unlikely event that the government starts mandating it.

I have no problem with the police helping out with the illegal immigrant problem. Aren't they supposed to help enforce the law? I don't see why that's problematic. I highly doubt if they'll start requiring admissions clerks to check immigration status. It'll never happen. It's like comparing apples and oranges. It makes sense for police to do it, it doesn't make sense for admissions at the hospital to.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2007

As far as bankrupting hospitals, ALL people without insurance are going to affect the hospital, aren't they? And, in many border towns, many, if not most of the patients will be immigrants, won't they? Without the immigrants there probably wouldn't be a need for the hospital. So, if you kick out the illegals, your census would go down and the hospital would not be needed or would have to downsize.

Maybe the government should subsidise border town hospitals as a humanitarian effort. Afterall we send relief abroad to help people, we send foreign aid to countries 10,000 miles away, why not provide healthcare to illegal immigrants? I think it's good to help people.

Keysnurse2008 · Jul 29, 2007

I am totally AGAINST illegal immigrants entering into the usa via the rio grande etc etc too.I am fine with any person who wishes to enter into the usa via legal means .I see alot of illegals in various hospitals ....one we had to "fly" back to mexico and spend the week teaching his family how to care for his vent and health needs ...this was AFTER he spent 3 months and 9 surgeries in the usa eating up thousands of healthcare dollars which to my knowledge we were never reimbursed for.

I can say I dont like where healthcare is trending.A few short years ago I would have said "there is no way that I will be having to ask a patient on admission thru the er to go by accting and make pymt arrangements prior to us rendering treatment if they wernt like dying on me!" and if they were dying we are to ask the family to stop by and make pymt arrangements if they are a self pay patient.So ...what in the H*** is happening to healthcare?

I know 2 weeks ago that when I heard they were deputizing our sherrifs dept here in alabama to act as INS agents also I thought...ya know the next step is they will be asking our er dept to "screen for immigration status". I can see where healthcare would benefit by stoppoing the influx of illegal immigrants...but I dont want to be in a position of having to ask.I just want to take care of patients and go home...I dont want to be a security/sherrifs dept/ins deputy. I just want o be a nurse. I am interested in hearing from the states that do border like mexico?...how are you guys doing with these issues....do you ask....?

bellasage · Jul 29, 2007

Well I won't say where I work but I know most of our patients are illegals. We don't ask that, we have social services speak to them about insurance and other resources.

Sometimes we get a family whose parents are 20 with 6 kids.....

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jul 30, 2007

I don't think it is a good idea for local PD's to become involved in immigration sweeps. Community policing requires that people feel comfortable asking for police assistance. I know that the chief of the MPLS PD does not endorse efforts to use his officers valuable time as Junior-Gmen.

As nurses aren't we supposed to be in the business of helping people meet their health needs?

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Aug 1, 2007

Ok, there seem to be two issues here:

1) Police acting to detain immigrants here illegally. This is a really stupid idea, for a couple reasons. First, you want people in communities, regardless of immigration status, to come forward to the authorities to report crimes, right? Because the police want the crime rate to drop, right? Not gonna happen if people think they will be subjected to a cop on a power trip thinking he can send some "Mexicans" back home. (I know there are plenty of hardworking cops out there, I'm just using an example.) Second, police have enough on their plate to say grace over, with gangs, and drugs and drunk drivers, etc. Ok, if the gangster or drug dealer is an illegal immigrant, fine, send him/her home. But to put the added duty on them to check everybody's legal status? Let them focus on real crime, not Juan Q. Citizen working hard to raise his family, learn English, etc. Even Border Patrol officers make the distinction between drug cartels crossing the border and the everyman who can't feed his family any other way. (Visa waits to the US from Mexico are about 20 years, FTR.) I think it's a waste of tax dollars when most of our criminals are homegrown. (Check the DOJ's website if you want numbers.) Also, I can see a lot of potential for racial profiling. Cause let me tell you, if there's a license check and all the white folk ahead of us don't get asked for their papers, but my Hispanic husband gets asked for his, believe me somebody will hear about it.

2) Hospitals checking immigration status: Wrong. Unethical. None of my business. The same way I don't ask every heterosexual male I encounter there if he's a convicted sex offender. Shoot, I don't ask prisoners about their past. It doesn't matter, even if I don't think what they've done is right. My job is to meet healthcare needs, not be judge, jury, and INS. And, I'd like to find someone who actually has the time to ask those questions and follow up on them. Heck, I'm lucky if I get to take 45 seconds to empty my bladder. I got better things to do.

*steps off soapbox*

Keysnurse2008 · Aug 1, 2007

i don't think it is a good idea for local pd's to become involved in immigration sweeps. community policing requires that people feel comfortable asking for police assistance. i know that the chief of the mpls pd does not endorse efforts to use his officers valuable time as junior-gmen.
as nurses aren't we supposed to be in the business of helping people meet their health needs?

amen...i completly agree! i see sooo many folks who...yes they are probably here illegally....trying to escape un-immaginable poverty and make a better life for their families.i see how they postphone seeking healthcare treatment until they are so deathly ill.i want to take care of them...i dont care what color their skin is,..their ethnicity...their immigration status....but at the same time...i feel like everyone who comes here should enter legally.

i dont like the thought of community policing either....but it is here.sheriff's deputies aka ins immigration enforcement officers!!!!.that...is what worries me.it is a slippery slope from there...... to the ed dept having to ask for immigration paperwork along with health insurance cards.

i dont know all the answers to what "society should do...or shouldnt do" ...i know everyone should enter here legally so that the gvt knows they are "here".but...i know i dont want to add "police officer /ins worker to all the other jobs that have been added over the years to rn's.i am already...social worker, psychologist,referee,athelete(dodging progectile vomit in one single lightning boud!), pastor, combat recruit,maid, momma and nurse...dont ask me to add ins duties too! lol..gee...i really hope it doesnt come to that guys.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Aug 1, 2007

Juan Q Citizen? Don't you mean Juan Q Non-citizen in that post?

As far as the police getting involved, I don't think it should mean that they target people because of their accent, but if they are already ticketing someone, maybe there should be an easy way to check on their citizenship status, what with computerized systems these days.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Aug 1, 2007

jls, I think you know what I am talking about.

"Citizen" meaning your average everyday person. Not necessarily a national of one country or another. And if you want to argue semantics, there are a LOT of "non-citizens" who are here permanent residents and here legally.