Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an govt order mandating that public hospitals within the state collect information on sufferers’ immigration statuses to report back to the state authorities.
Order GA 46, issued on Thursday, directs the Texas Well being and Human Companies Fee to gather info on unlawful immigrants who use public hospitals for inpatient and emergency care and report the healthcare prices, so the state can monitor how a lot cash was spent on unlawful immigrants’ medical remedy and ship the invoice to the Biden administration, which the governor blames for the inflow of unlawful migrants coming into the U.S. by the Southern Border.
“Due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies, Texas has had to foot the bill for medical costs for individuals illegally in the state,” Abbott stated in an announcement. “Texas should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants.”
“That is why I issued an Executive Order requiring the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect and report healthcare costs for illegal immigrants in our state,” he continued. “Texas will hold the Biden-Harris Administration accountable for the consequences of their open border policies, and we will fight to ensure that they pay back Texas for their costly and dangerous policies.”
GOP STATES SUE TO STOP BIDEN ADMIN EXTENDING OBAMACARE TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an govt order requiring public hospitals within the state to gather information on sufferers’ immigration statuses. (Brandon Bell/Getty Pictures)
The brand new rule takes impact November 1.
The hospitals should report the info quarterly, with the primary submissions due on March 1. Starting on January 1, 2026, annual stories have to be supplied to the governor, lieutenant governor, and the state’s Speaker of the Home on the earlier yr’s prices for medical care supplied to unlawful immigrants.
The order additionally states that hospitals are required to tell sufferers that federal legislation mandates that their responses to questions on immigration standing is not going to have an effect on medical care.
The League of United Latin American Residents, or LULAC, is criticizing the chief order as “political rhetoric.”
“It’s pretty vague. It’s like ‘Hey, let’s just get the data.’ Well, what are you doing to do with the data?,” Gabriel Rosales, the state director for LULAC in Texas, advised Fox 26.
The order states that hospitals are required to tell sufferers that federal legislation mandates that their responses to questions on immigration standing is not going to have an effect on medical care. (AP Photograph/Eric Homosexual, File)
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LULAC emphasised that the chief order might maintain some immigrants from looking for the medical care they require.
“It just creates a lot of fear that’s unnecessary,” Rosales stated. “They need to create a pathway to citizenship.”
This comes as politicians in Texas and elsewhere are calling on the Biden administration to do extra to handle the disaster on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Undocumented immigrants contribute $26.2 billion to this country, nationally,” Sergio Lira, the president of Higher Houston LULAC, advised Fox 26. “2.6 billion dollars to the state and local taxes.”
Lira additionally stated the federal authorities “subsidizes and supplements a lot of the medical costs, locally, statewide.”
