Thread: U.S. to Offer Care to Infants of Illegal Immigrants

March 21, 2007
U.S. to Offer Care to Infants of Illegal Immigrants
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, March 20 — In a reversal, the Bush administration said Tuesday that babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants with low incomes could automatically qualify for one year of Medicaid coverage, just as babies born to United States citizens did.

Federal officials dropped their insistence that illegal immigrants document the citizenship of the newborns. State officials, hospitals and pediatricians had said the requirement made no sense because, under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, people born in this country are United States citizens.

The change came just 15 days after the State of Washington challenged the policy in a lawsuit. Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington welcomed the change.

“The Constitution could not be more clear,” Ms. Gregoire said. “Babies born in the United States are citizens, regardless of who their parents are.”

Ms. Gregoire said the original policy, adopted last July, would have delayed care for 8,000 “infant citizens” of her state. Washington State had argued that the federal policy denied “equal protection of the laws” to citizen children of illegal immigrants.

Leslie V. Norwalk, acting administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said: “We have heard the concerns and are taking action to ensure that newborns in similar circumstances are treated the same under Medicaid eligibility rules. We intend to modify the documentation requirements to put all babies born in the United States whose deliveries are covered by Medicaid on an equal footing.”

Illegal immigrants are generally barred from Medicaid, but can get coverage for treatment of emergency medical conditions, including labor and delivery.

The policy change affects only infants. Adults and children over the age of 1 will still be subject to documentation requirements established by a 2006 law. To obtain or keep Medicaid, they must present birth certificates, passports or other documents proving citizenship and identity.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who had introduced a bill to overturn the administration policy, said Tuesday that the reversal was “a positive step.”

Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, said: “I’m glad the administration has taken this small step to fix a problem that it created. But we have a long way to go before the larger issue of citizenship documentation is resolved.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/us/21 ... ref=slogin

Gregoire won a narrow election in which the number of votes by which she won was less than the states estimated number of their illegal alien voters.

Originally Posted by Richard

Gregoire won a narrow election in which the number of votes by which she won was less than the states estimated number of their illegal alien voters.

Hi Richard,

Assume you're referring to illegals who registered to vote during the mob demonstrations.

Besides encouraging more illegals to jump the border, when these babies reach voting age:

If the globalists have their way
John Cornyn's "skil" bill will be law.
Illegals (as voters) will vote in accordance with National Communist La Raza
Our former jobs will have gone to unlimited H-1Bs from Bang-Town, India
The Dictatorship of the North American Union will be our government
Our constitutional liberties will be gone
W, our webmaster, will be in the slammer (for hosting this website).

So will the rest of us for participating.

How about kicking their parents out of the country and keeping their kids here, or send little jesus home with them. They belong to them after all. We don't have to agree with Ms. Gregoire's idea on the 14th amendment, but we don't have to be used as a nursery either!

You can always replace Ms. Gregoire come election time and let her know she'll never have at being in office again if this is her stance on the subject.

What would bush know about the constitution, he hasn't upheld his sworn oath, he only uses what he feels can support his cause. The rest he refuses to enforce.

If the government would have done their job they were sworn in to do, we wouldn't have this problem today. They can only blame themselves for the mess they created.

“The Constitution could not be more clear,” Ms. Gregoire said. “Babies born in the United States are citizens, regardless of who their parents are.”

She's either ignorant or lieing. The 14th ammendment was written to protect the children of former slaves. It plainly says that it applies to people, "under the jurisdiction of the United States" and does not apply for instance to the children of diplomats or people visiting on vacation.
Illegal aliens are obviously not under our jurisdiction.

Someone needs to challenge the current interpretation that grants citizenship to the children of illegal aliens. How can you gain a benefit from an unlawful act?