Thread: Free Health Care for Illegal Aliens Needs Improvement?

Free Health Care for Illegal Aliens Needs Improvement, Some in Congress Say

Wednesday, March 04, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

Capt. Jose Rodriguez, director of the Division of Immigration Health Services, U.S. Public Health Service, said some of the medical care ICE dispenses has saved lives.

(CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)(CNSNews.com) – Free health care provided to illegal aliens detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs to be investigated and improved, some members of a congressional Homeland Security panel said on Tuesday, despite testimony that the number of detainee deaths is way down and that health screenings have saved lives.

Capt. Jose Rodriguez, director of the U.S. Public Health Service's Division of Immigration Health Services, testified that each individual taken into ICE custody is given a verbal health screening and is tested for tuberculosis within 12 hours. Dental exams also are provided, and women ages 10 to 55 are given pregnancy tests at the initial health screening.

Individuals who are still in custody after 14 days are given a complete physical.

“The purpose of this hearing is to investigate the health care services that ICE provides individuals held in its custody at detention centers around the country and to discuss efforts that Department of Homeland Security will do to improve those services,â€

it is not OUR job to save the lives and/or provide health care for the criminal illegals.

ACLU says Wyatt detainee's death an alarm bell
4:21 PM Tue, Mar 03, 2009 |
Karen Ziner

The death last year of Hiu Lui Ng while he was in the custody of the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, should push Congress to prioritize the need for better health services for immigration detainees, said the American Civil Liberties Union, in Washington, and its Rhode Island affiliate.

Ng, a 34-year-old Chinese national, died several days after he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and a broken spine. His family has filed a civil suit.

The national ACLU and the RI ACLU cited that case in a statement praising the hearing held earlier today by the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, on health services for immigration detainees.

"Mr. Ng's case of medical abuse should have sounded an alarm that our health services for immigration detention are badly broken," said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU affiliate. "Unfortunately, Mr. Ng was just one of over 80 deaths in a system that undermines American values of fairness and dignity."

Brown urged Congress to ask officials of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "what steps they can take to prevent another incident such as Mr. Ng's case from occurring in the future."

The ACLU in Washington said, "This welcome hearing highlights the need for the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize fixing this broken medical care system in its fiscal year 2010 budget."

ACLU spokeswoman Linda Paris said the hearing included testimony by several ICE officials. She said Ng's death was not mentioned at the hearing.

http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/03/congressional-h.html