The Pink Flamingo :: A Wrap Up of Recent Anti-Immigration News

The anti-immigration blogs are now blaming the burn victims of last week’s Southern California’s fires on the victims, themselves, and the fact that 11 out of 18 victims were illegals and were going to cost the taxpayers a fortune. Yes, you read it correctly. It is all the victim’s fault for being here illegally, the same reasoning that blames a rape victim’s attire on the reason she was raped.
From Sign onSan Diego

“…Last year, San Diego County hospitals provided $619 million in uncompensated care, and an estimated 10 percent to 17 percent of that paid for treatment for undocumented immigrants, according to the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties. Burn care requires ventilators, multiple surgeries, round-the-clock intensive care and grafts from human cadaveric skin. McAfee said grafts can be grown from patients' own skin to minimize tissue rejection at $500,000 per patient. Last year, the average cost of treating a burn patient at UCSD was $45,000 for an average 15-day stay.

When patients need long-term nursing care, said UCSD spokeswoman Leslie Franz, “we make arrangements on a case-by-case basis. This could mean anything from them continuing to receive care from us, or we might transition them to another facility in that person's home state or another country, if we can expedite that.” However, appropriate care in a person's native country is not always available. Esmeralda Siu of the Coalición Pro Defensa del Migrante, a network of migrant shelters and other services in Baja California, said rules prevent the United States from sending Mexican nationals home before they can travel safely. “By law, they can't deport them if they are injured,” said Siu, who is based in Tijuana. “They have to be stabilized, and that they accept leaving, and that they are well to travel.”

Read Digger’s Version.
Illegal Protest then blames the victim. One gets the impression Immigration Watchdog would just send the critically injured individuals back to Mexico ignoring issues of life or death because of previous incidents in Mexico regarding touristas.

A MINI RANT
I have a special appreciation of people like “Digger” and “Ruth”. I will be willing to bet Rumsfeld’s little elephant Halloween costume that they are both “Born Again Christians” and are proud of their faith, humility, and Family Values. I guess they've forgotten all about The Good Samaritan. Don't worry, I'm about to get preachy! But, read what “Ruth” wrote:

“…NO! We have a way to transport these burn victims to Mexico once they are stable and as an American taxpayer I DEMAND IT. Enough is Enough!!!!!!!!...”

Lovely, isn’t it? I imagine, also, neither activist will even acknowledge the fact that the reason the individuals were so horribly injured was because either they were burned so badly because of the situation near the farms where they were working.

Digger wrote:

“Oh yes, how I love to make light of tragic circumstances some will accuse me of after writing this article, but let me make it clear, I find nothing gleeful about people being burned. However, I also find nothing gleeful in Americans being taken advantage of time and time again and that is just what has happened, once again, in California.Due to the recent fires in California, which happen every year, there are 18 people currently in a UCSD Medical Center burn ward after being caught in the fires (see video of the news reports below). Of these 18, 11 are illegal aliens from Mexico, four of which are in critical condition. I have no problems with our hospitals caring for these individuals. Where I do have a problem is that they are all uninsured and once again the American people are being expected to pay for their full care for free. UCSD Medical Center alone swallows $30,000,000 a year in uncompensated care each year….”

In other words, Digger (and has associates) does not approve of anyone receiving medical treatment if they are uninsured. I have news for Digger. I just discovered my insurance policy sucks, big time, and it is alleged to be a good one. So, if I were to be injured and the bills exceeded the insurance policy, I gather he would not approve of me receiving treatment. (fortunately I am in a position that unless something were catastrophic I would be fine) I gather you and all of your anti-immigration associates have enough insurance that you need not be required to seek government assistance.

A few "conservative" anti-immigration blogs have then used the fact that Mexico has mis-treated touristas (that's Spanish) as a reason their citizens who are here illegally should not be treated. I have news for you. Anyone with half a brain who travels to Mexico knows they are going into a very dangerous country with barbaric prisons and very poor facilities unless you are the rich, famous, or connected. Why do you think Mexicans want to move here - no matter what?

Let’s also face the fact that the reason these people were so severely injured was because of the terror they faced, and the way they were treated during the fires. I don’t give a rip if they were legal or not. Humanity is humanity and Christian kindness and decency is just that. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan?

THE AMERICAN DREAM HAS COME TO AN END

“…Immigration reform was killed by the U.S. Senate on June 28. On October 24, the DREAM Act fell short of the required votes. Everyone with a brown face is suspect as someone who arrived here last night from Mexico. Anti Hispanic sentiments are being felt by all Hispanics across the United States. For migrants, the fear of being arrested is forcing people further into the shadows. Some migrants are forced to relocate to friendlier communities — sometimes to another state. Frequent ICE raids and arrests are happening in the work place often times into private housing. Students are being forced from attending higher education for lack of being able to pay in-state tuition. 1500 Laws against migrants across the United States have been approved. This is a horrible time for migrants forced to leave purchased homes at great losses. Gains made by Hispanics in recent years are now being lost. The American dream has come to an end. Out of this festering turmoil, Hispanics are even falling prey to other Hispanics witness predatory home loans enabled by hidden loans to boost down payments to qualify all arranged by Hispanic real estate and mortgage brokers. This is not a good time for Hispanics who bought homes before the sub prime market bust. Now they are loosing their homes because they can not afford their monthly payments with the increased changes.

It is almost impossible to make gains. Some Hispanic organizations are even collaborating with those that would do us harm. We are selling our souls and making irrational unjustified linkages that would be used against us. In Phoenix, many Hispanics are fighting Republican talk radio which was instrumental in defeating immigration reform and at the very same time, another Hispanic organization is bestowing honors on the villain that pays for advertising on Republican talk radio that is working against us. How is it that we are so blind to these collaborations? How is it we are so readily available to prostitute ourselves for a few token dollars….”

DETAINEE ABUSE - ILLEGAL STYLE
Detainee Abuse at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center
Greg Skskind has information about more problems at Hutto.

“…According to a far-reaching report – "Locking Up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families" – published by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Hutto staff and providers may have crossed the line numerous times. In an interview, the report's author, Michelle Brané, said the report addresses only the more serious documented incidents. In the medical wing, for example, pregnant detainees were X-rayed with no lead screen; detainees received dental work without anesthesia; pregnant women were not allowed milk and were shackled when taken outside the facility for checkups. Additionally, the report reveals that overheated water scalded children at times. To punish children deemed unruly, guards "would turn up the air conditioning so that the room became very cold" and would turn off hot water for bathing, the report states. But the worst offense was that so-called errant parents and their children lived under the threat of being separated.

Concerning the alleged sexual assault of a detainee, the question remains: Why was the guard not arrested or prosecuted? No one at the Oct. 9 commissioners' meeting seemed to know or care. CCA Senior Vice President Damon Hininger said the county was investigating the case, but Sheriff James Wilson said he didn't know the whereabouts of the case file and that District Attorney John Bradley had decided to forgo prosecution. FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said a subsequent federal inquiry was scrapped, too, but concurred that guard-on-detainee sexual contact is a felony in Texas and generally regarded as official oppression. Neither the sheriff's office nor the FBI has jurisdiction in the case, officials from both agencies said. Carl Rusnok, spokesman for ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, said that the county's investigation "clearly established it was not sexual assault, after evidence and statements from the CCA employee and detainee indicated and established that the encounter was consensual." ICE believes the county should have the case file, since it served as the primary investigative agency. ICE also referred the case to the FBI for any potential federal charges. Ultimate ly, on June 12, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Austin declined to prosecute the case. Two days later, ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility closed its case.

In any event, the alleged incident created a major stir. The detention facility was cordoned off, and a police officer noted in a report that an injury had occurred and a rape test was performed at a local hospital. But with no arrest, specific tapes or test results might never be disclosed. Detainees reacted in fear, Austin immigration lawyer Barbara Hines said. "Some of my clients were worried after the incident because they had adolescent daughters," Hines added. Generally, said Brané, author of the Hutto report, a climate of fear existed at Hutto, with alliances between detainees and guards forged for "protection." "I interpreted 'alliances' to mean 'favors,'" Brané said. That, coupled with the threat of separation from family members, could have contributed to a milieu of extortion, even retribution. ICE, too, grew concerned about detainee safety, noting in its reprimand, "Sub-contractors were found to have criminal histories that were not conducive to the family residential environment of the facility and those workers were denied access."…”

From the Texas Observer

“…But do go on, Ms. Long: “The thing we forget is the adults that are being detained have broken the law, and unfortunately as children sometimes we have to suffer with the sins of our parents,” Long continued, digging her hole deeper. “Those children are probably not there by choice...."

"...But their parents have made a choice for their family, and they have to deal, they have to be — or suffer, if you can call it that, because of their parents’ choices. But I think the worst choice would be to take that child away from their parents and put them to a situation that would be even worse.” Is this what Republicans mean when they talk about family values? Is this what Williamson County means when it talks about “gittin’ tuff on crime”? Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?

Long says the kids “probably” didn’t choose to be at Hutto. They might have, though. One day they woke up and said, “Mommy, let’s go to America so we can be in jail at the T. Don Hutto detention center. Please, mommy, please.” Aside from being asinine and fairly calloused, Long doesn’t really have her facts straight. The immigrant detainees at Hutto haven’t in fact broken any criminal law. At worst, they have violated civil immigration code. And many of them are asylum-seekers, including Chaldeans fleeing persecution and war in Iraq. If these families are sinners, as Long would have it, then blessed be the sinners. We should be grateful such brave people come to America…”

Immigration Prof Blog

DETAINED ILLEGAL NOT GIVEN CANCER TREATMENT
Immigration Watchdog is blaming the victim for being here illegally. The man came here when he was 10 years old with his parents. He was not perfect, but deserved better. He has a once treatable form of cancer, but is now terminal because ICE officials refused to allow him access to medical treatment while being detained. Now he is suing.
From SF Gate.

“…She said testimony from the agency and detainees at the hearing described a policy in which routine health care is denied in detention centers, and emergency care is provided only if approved by a nurse at agency headquarters who has not seen the patient. Such a system is "an invitation to malpractice," Lofgren said. Castaneda, who left El Salvador with his mother during a civil war, was living in the Los Angeles area when he was convicted of possessing methamphetamine in 2005 and spent eight months in county and state custody, his lawyers said. His immigration case includes a claim of political asylum. He says he would be persecuted and tortured if deported because of his former affiliation with a Los Angeles Salvadoran gang.

According to his lawsuit, a doctor noticed a growth on his penis in December 2005 and ordered him referred to a urologist for an examination, but the exam was not conducted in his remaining three months in state custody. mmigration officials then held Castaneda from March 2006 until early February at detention centers in San Diego and San Pedro. As multiple lesions developed and the pain increased, his suit said, he repeatedly sought help from medical personnel, who recommended examinations that never took place. A physician's assistant first recommended a biopsy in April 2006, noting that Castaneda's mother had died of cancer at age 39, but a supervising doctor said it was an elective procedure that would not be provided, the suit said. Later recommendations for a biopsy and for surgery were similarly denied by physicians or officials at agency headquarters, the suit said.
It said the medical staff's response to bleeding from the lesion was to provide Castaneda with clean underwear each day.

A doctor finally ordered a biopsy in late January and said Castaneda probably had cancer. Rather than treating him, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement released Castaneda 11 days later. He underwent the biopsy and amputation surgery at a Los Angeles County hospital. The cancer has continued to spread since then, Castaneda's lawyers said. The lawyers said they didn't know why the government freed Castaneda while he was facing deportation, but the suit speculated that the government wanted to avoid paying for the biopsy….”