Thread: Navarrete: Lurching right on immigration

Lurching right on immigration
Ruben Navarrette Jr., San Diego Union-Tribune

President Obama has already made three big errors where the issues of health care and illegal immigration intersect, and we're still in the early innings.


Error No. 1: Obama and his advisers should have listened to immigration reform activists who suggested the White House should tackle immigration before health care. Otherwise, the activists warned, concerns that illegal immigrants would get benefits could trip up the health care effort.

One of the narratives pushed by immigration restrictionists is that of immigrants as takers. They say illegal immigrants come here to get on welfare, flood the schools, and soak up medical care. Comically, they also spin a contradictory narrative - that illegal immigrants take jobs from U.S. workers, their kids don't stay in school, and they all have communicable diseases because they don't visit doctors.

But this administration has a steep learning curve on immigration. And the activists were right about illegal immigration tripping up health care reform.

Error No. 2: Obama's next mistake was putting into his recent congressional address the now-famous line insisting that it simply isn't true illegal immigrants would receive benefits under the health care reform measures currently being debated. If Obama hadn't gone down that road and made such a claim, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., wouldn't have felt compelled to respond with a forceful but tacky: "You lie!"

This isn't to excuse Wilson, who was out of line and who apologized. It's only to say that Obama made a conscious decision to include that language, when he could have left it out. So who is right? Here's the most honest answer: It's hard to say. Democrats are correct that most of the reform bills in Congress say that illegal immigrants are not eligible for benefits. But Republicans are also correct that there is no provision for verifying citizenship because Democrats killed those amendments. So we couldn't be sure who is getting what.


Error No. 3: Because of Wilson's outburst, the White House has been bullied into lurching to the right just to quell the criticism over whether illegal immigrants will get health coverage.

So illegal immigrants could end up with fewer health care options than they have now. And we call this reform?

The most humanitarian thing the administration is prepared to do is to continue requiring hospitals to provide emergency care to illegal immigrants at taxpayer expense, which is the law anyway, and reimburse hospitals for that cost.

That's great. Emergency care is among the most expensive, and it would be so much cheaper to focus on prevention over treatment and pay for doctor visits as opposed to hospital stays. Don't look now, but the president's leadership skills are looking a bit sickly.




To comment, e-mail Ruben Navarrette Jr. at ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z0RFWWkFTf

Just emailed this bafoon:

Hello Ruben,

You said in a recent article:
..Comically, they also spin a contradictory narrative - that illegal immigrants take jobs from U.S. workers..

There's no denying this, it's fact so quit spewing your out-of-date rhetoric.

You also stated:
...and they all have communicable diseases because they don't visit doctors.

It sound like to me that you are putting words in the mouths of anti-illegal immigrant activists. I have never heard anyone say that or read it anywhere, but one thing is for sure, everyone crossing illegally into the US is NOT receiveing proper immunizations. You'd be a liar again if you say that is incorrect.


And you stated this:
Obama's next mistake was putting into his recent congressional address the now-famous line insisting that it simply isn't true illegal immigrants would receive benefits under the health care reform measures currently being debated.

You don't seem to understand, you and your kind aren't going to just sneak this through without ALL points being discussed.

You also stated:
So who is right? Here's the most honest answer: It's hard to say. Democrats are correct that most of the reform bills in Congress say that illegal immigrants are not eligible for benefits. But Republicans are also correct that there is no provision for verifying citizenship because Democrats killed those amendments. So we couldn't be sure who is getting what.

And so we know that's what you and your kind want..a loophole..ain't gonna happen.

You stated as well:
So illegal immigrants could end up with fewer health care options than they have now. And we call this reform?

The reform isn't about illegal aliens and what they are supposed to get..They aren't suppose to get a damn thing..they are here ILLEGALLY and the only thing they deserve is food and water to last them until their deportation order is filled..GET IT?? They don't belong here and we don't want them here. WE WELCOME ALL LEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND LEGAL ONLY!!

Why don't you try being a writer who produces articles that are not biased..Isn't that what being a writer is really about? try pointing out both perspectives instead of your current lopsided view.
XXX

Navarette is an opinion writer...nothing more, he is no "journalist" nor "reporter" he doesn't "report" on anything....apparently the newspapers that hire him fill their quotas in the name of "diversity" and let him just write "opinions"..that way no real research or investigation into fact, etc. are necessary.

Great reply Rockfish couldn't have said it better, please post if he has the guts to write you back!