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08-18-2008, 08:14 PM #1
U.S. Hospitals Take Mexican Drug Casualties
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/US_h ... ode=680C-1
U.S. Hospitals Take Mexican Drug Casualties
Sunday, August 17, 2008 5:56 PM
By: Phil Brennan
Mexico's war on drugs is costing American taxpayers big bucks, as the U.S. government is bringing Mexican casualties from the conflict to hospitals north of the border and paying for medical treatment.
According to The Los Angeles Times, El Paso’s Thomason Hospital has treated 28 victims of the Mexican drug war this year, at a cost of about $1 million. The costs are not confined to medical treatment. With the border area becoming a battle zone where drug gangs, seeking to finish the job by pursuing their victims even into hospitals, Thomason has had on occasion been turned into an armed camp.
The Times reported that on three occasions this year, the hospital was placed under maximum security, with local law enforcement providing additional protection for patients, visitors, and employees at the hospital.
Being the only hospital within a 280-mile radius that offers offer state-of-the-art trauma care, Thomason, the Times reported, has become an unwilling treatment center of choice for law enforcement officials and others in the vicinity wounded in Mexico's bloody drug turf battles.
More than 2,000 people have been killed this year, and more than double that number in the 20 months since President Felipe Calderon began deploying 40,000 troops across the country to crack down on narcotics trafficking, the Times recalled.
"We have not accepted these patients. They are brought here. We are mandated by law, federal law, to provide care, a medical assessment and treatment," James Vilenti, Thomason hospital's president and CEO, told KFOX-TV.
Although Valenti said the Mexican government is reimbursing the hospital for most of the patients they send to the U.S., he called on the government for change.
"We need the help of all of our elected official on all levels of the United States to help turn the tide of violence in Mexico and the violence in Juarez. This is a trend that is disturbing. It is a trend that we need to bring attention to so we can get help from federal and local agencies," he said.
El Paso County Sheriff Santiago "Jimmy" Apodaca told the Times he does not like having to pay deputies overtime to guard the hospital when a patient requiring security is brought in. But he has to ensure the safety of El Paso, which was named the second-safest city in the U.S. last year in an independent ranking of cities with more than half a million people. He added that he sees little reason to worry that drug war violence would cross the Rio Grande. But he is taking no chances.
"Bordering on Juarez, the most violent city in Mexico and one of the most violent cities anywhere besides Iraq, you're always vigilant," Apodaca said. "But those people [hit men] down there know who they're after, and they know how to get them."
Valenti, Ron Acton, the hospital’s Board of Managers chairman, and County Commissioner Veronica Escobar have traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and leaders from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security to discuss the issue of people injured in Mexico crossing the border to receive treatment at the hospital, according to the El Paso Times.
"We've received 24 patients related to the violence and the drug cartel, and this is a disturbing trend," Valenti told the Times. "We received a commitment from Congressman Reyes to explore all options of funding to Thomason to offset these costs."
© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.<div>“There is no longer any Left or Right, there is only Tyranny or Liberty ”</div>
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08-18-2008, 08:26 PM #2
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/border ... 22928.html
Mexican Border City Drug Dead Hits 800
Monday, August 18, 2008 10:52 AM
By: Jim Meyers
A massacre at a drug rehab center last week helped push the number of homicides in the Mexican border city of Juarez to more than 800 this year as rival drug gangs battle for turf.
On Wednesday a commando-style group fired a barrage of more than 60 rounds during a religious service at the drug rehab center, killing eight and wounding five. Five other people were killed elsewhere in the city on that day.
More than 100 people have been killed so far in August in the war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels, which broke out in January, the El Paso Times reports.
The homicide rate in Juarez, a city of nearly 2 million that is just across the border from El Paso, Tex., now stands at about 3.5 murders a day.
“If you wanted to see what terrorism is like, you are looking at it full-fledged over there,â€<div>“There is no longer any Left or Right, there is only Tyranny or Liberty ”</div>
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08-18-2008, 08:27 PM #3
Related post:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-128477-thomason.htmlJoin our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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08-18-2008, 08:37 PM #4
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
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"We have not accepted these patients. They are brought here. We are mandated by law, federal law, to provide care, a medical assessment and treatment," James Vilenti, Thomason hospital's president and CEO, told KFOX-TV.
Although Valenti said the Mexican government is reimbursing the hospital for most of the patients they send to the U.S., he called on the government for change.
"We need the help of all of our elected official on all levels of the United States to help turn the tide of violence in Mexico and the violence in Juarez. This is a trend that is disturbing. It is a trend that we need to bring attention to so we can get help from federal and local agencies," he said.Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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08-19-2008, 05:18 PM #5
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- Apr 2006
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- 7,928
Congressman Silvestre Reyes, who lives in El Paso, represents this district. Although he does not accept emails from non-constituents, here is other contact information for him:
The Honorable Silvestre Reyes
310 N. Mesa, Suite 400
El Paso, TX 79901
Phone: (915) 534-4400
FAX: (915) 534-7426
2433 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4831
FAX: (202) 225-2016Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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