Thread: Oregon treats illegal immigrants better than its mentally il

Oregon treats illegal immigrants better than its mentally ill

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Most every adult American can recognize something that's ironic. I must comment then on a classical example of it right here in Oregon's capital city, and elsewhere in the state, too. It would appear Oregonians take better care of illegal/undocumented immigrants and many fight harder on their behalf than they do to correct the serious lapses in medical care for the state hospital's 700-plus patients who are mainly life-long citizens of this state and nation.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice issued a searing report last week that focused less on the problem of aging hospital facilities where state officials have spent millions in recent years to plan for a new hospital and relocation of some mentally ill patients to smaller community centers. As many readers know, the Civil Rights Division's report documented large numbers of patient-on-patient assaults, multiple suicide attempts by patients supposedly monitored, improper use of seclusion and restraints, and dangerous medication practices. The report is not only quite shocking but also embarrassing and shameful. A long used expression is apropos: "there but for the grace of God go I."

"What this shows," said Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, "is that we're not even close to being there when it comes to the care we're providing right now." The state, he commented further, "got lulled into thinking it was all about the bricks and mortar of a new hospital." I haven't figured out how state officials could be so surprised. Didn't they ever visit the hospital with an eye to patient care in addition to looking at the deterioration of the buildings in which the patients are confined?

Meanwhile, protesters have been invited into the Capitol to testify against drivers having to prove legal status to obtain an Oregon driver's license. These protests in and of themselves cost Oregon taxpayers the cost of accommodating these folks and providing public safety. Incidentally, Oregon is one of only seven states in the nation that doesn't require proof of legal status for a driver's license.

So far, the governor has stood firm on his executive order. I applaud him for his steadfastness and hope his resolve is firm and final It may become state law if legislators have the courage to risk votes to save the state from a sanctuary for the illegal and the undocumented.

Granted, when one considers the illegal/undocumented immigrants, one recognizes that many contribute to state coffers by paying some taxes. However, the case has been made in nothing less than definitive terms that these folks are costing Oregon and U.S. citizens taxpayers a lot more than they're giving back in taxes they pay and, in far too many cases, significantly contributing to social disorder and a crime wave.

It would seem that a more effective round up and deportation of persons here illegally would in part at least help to correct a wrong that has mentally ill Oregonians abused in the extreme while the money that should be going to provide effective care for them and other societal needs in the U.S. Instead, public money, desperately needed elsewhere, is spent on persons who have no right to be here in the first place.

Again, on Monday of this week, as has happened exasperatingly often recently, while the illegal/undocumented immigrants and their friends and supporters were protesting an executive order that may become law in Oregon, regarding proof of legal status before a driver's license is issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the patients at the state hospital continued ignored, maltreated and abused. Where's the justice in the first instance and where's ICE (Immigration and Control Enforcement) in the other?

Things have gotten incredibly skewed when we must put up with foreign nationals demanding the rights of American citizens. Meanwhile, it would appear that a disregard for caring about the mentally ill is the order of the day while surrender of the state to undocumented elements hangs in the balance. May the threat to our sovereignty be addressed and redressed.


The Statesman Journal

Unfortunately, this no longer is surprising