Cardinal calls for health coverage for illegal immigrants

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles is sure to drum up some controversy for saying it makes "no sense to deny" illegal immigrants healthcare.

In an op-ed, published Tuesday in the New York Times, the Cardinal says current health care bills falls short in three areas: the prohibition of federal money for abortions, the inclusion of provisions to ensure affordability, and the defense of immigrants’ rights to healthcare.

But he focuses his concerns on immigrants and what he describes as the “lack of adequate health care for immigrants who live in our midst but who do not yet have legal standing.”

Mahony points out that the Senate bill bars illegal immigrants from using even their own money to buy health insurance in the government-sponsored marketplace. The House bill allows illegal immigrants to purchase health insurance from the government-sponsored program, if they use their own money and receive no federal subsidy.

Both he says, have problems.

"When undocumented immigrants are intentionally excluded from health care coverage, they are forced to go to the only place where they will be accepted for care: trauma centers and emergency rooms — the most expensive health care delivery systems in the country. What a foolish waste of money, particularly in a time of economic stress for everyone. "

"...Using their own money, undocumented immigrants could receive basic health services through less expensive community clinics and doctors’ offices…And by paying into the system, immigrants would make health care less pricey for all by spreading the risks and costs among a larger pool of participants."

Mahony says that at least the House bill allows undocumented immigrants to purchase health insurance from the proposed exchange. But he says the Senate bill takes the country in the "opposite direction and needs to be changed."

"How is the health of the entire country helped when the Senate will not even allow immigrants to use their own money to purchase their health insurance?"

Read the full op-ed here.

Enforcement advocate drops Dobbs

A N.C. immigration enforcement group has withdrawn its support for Lou Dobbs and suspended its website calling on Dobbs to run for President. Americans for Legal Immigration PAC announced yesterday they're responding to membership angered over Dobb’s about-face on immigration issues.

Once one of the staunchest anti-illegal immigration advocates, the former CNN anchor angered supporters when he told Spanish-language network Telemundo that he now supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers. He long called these programs an unfair "amnesty."

Dobbs is reportedly considering a run for Senate or possibly even President. He seemed to be trying to change his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by re-positioning himself as a champion of one of their main causes. Both sides of the debate doubted his sincerity.

"While Mr. Dobbs claims his positions have not changed, however, that is not the perception of many of our mutual supporters," said William Gheen of ALIPAC, which opposes giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. "His recent comments on Telemundo and his national radio show supporting some kind of path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is inconsistent with positions of ALIPAC and the views of most American citizens."

ALIPAC officials say they circulated the video of the entire Lou Dobbs interview on Telemundo to over 30,000 national supporters. Gheen said internal polling showed that over 70 percent of the group’s supporters were upset with Dobbs's comments in support of legalizing illegal immigrants. ALIPAC opposes any path to citizenship form of Amnesty for illegal aliens

ALIPAC created the Loudobbsforpresident.org website. The group says it was the first national organization to call on Dobbs to run for President. Gheen was invited on Dobbs show to speak about the effort.

"We've received so many demands from prior Dobbs supporters to remove their pledges of support that we have to suspend all operations on the Dobbs fan sites," said Gheen. "Lou Dobbs has deeply offended his base of supporters and ALIPAC is going to remain loyal to those Americans who support our existing immigration laws instead of Amnesty disguised as reform."

Salvation Army stops checking SS# for toy drive

The Salvation Army of Houston will no longer require Social Security numbers from those seeking gifts, according to the Houston Chronicle.

"It was never our intention to offend anyone with our registration requirement to provide a Social Security number, or to give the impression that we were discriminating against those individuals and families who do not have a Social Security number," Major Chris Flanagan, Area Commander for The Salvation Army Greater Houston Area Command, said in a statement.

The paper reported earlier this week that some Houston charities were asking whether children are in the country legally before giving them toys.

The Salvation Army and Outreach Program Inc., which distributes toys collected by the Houston Fire Department, require documents that indicate immigration status — birth certificates, Social Security numbers or other paperwork — to register for their holiday charity programs. Generally, Social Security numbers are only available to those legally residing in the United States.

Both charities have said that although they have asked for such for paperwork, they never intended to discriminate against people based on their immigration status.

Jim Price of the Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte said that while the local chapter must check if residents actually live here in the community, the agency does not check immigration status.

Photo: skippyjon

Some toy drives check immigration status

Some Houston charities are asking whether children are in the country legally before giving them toys.

The Houston Chronicle reports that several programs in the country’s fourth largest city require at least one member of the household to be a U.S. citizen.

The Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department are among those that request birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children, according to the Chronicle. There are about 400,000 illegal immigrants in greater Houston.

Lorugene Young of Outreach Program Inc., which distributes toys collected by firefighters, said the point isn’t to punish the children but to ensure that their parents are either citizens, legal immigrants, or working to become legal residents.

Immigration activists called the idea of a charity turning away children because of decisions made by their parents “disturbing.”

“Usually, people target the adults because the adults made the decision to migrate, where the children are just brought through no fault of their own,” said Cesar Espinoza, executive director of America for All, a Houston-based advocacy group.

I asked Jim Price of the Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte if they were conducting any similar checks. He said that while the local chapter must check if residents actually live here in the community, the agency does not check immigration status.

Photo: skippyjon

'Bad bill of the year'

Voters selected a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to enroll in N.C. community colleges as the year’s worst bill.

The Civitas Institute, a Raleigh-based conservative think tank, hosted the NCAA march madness-style competition. The tournament began with 32 bills that Civitas staff had written about and nominated throughout 2009 as a “Bad Bill of the Week.” More than 10,000 votes were cast throughout the tournament, according to the institute.

State Senate Bill 848 defeated a public financing of municipal campaigns bill by a vote of 63-37. Neither of the two bills passed.

“The voters have spoken and declared SB 848 as this year’s worst bill of the year,” said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute. “SB 848 was able to defeat some really bad pieces of legislation on its way to the title, so it truly earned its victory.”

The bill was introduced in the midst of controversy over whether the state Board of Community Colleges should admit illegal immigrants to the state's 58 community colleges.

In September, the board approved a policy that would admit illegal immigrants provided they pay out-of-state tuition. The policy is expected to be implemented sometime in 2010.

NC Listen, which advocates for stronger immigration enforcement, is lobbying to prevent the policy change from being enacted.

“In the middle of one of the worst recessions in American history, our N.C. Community College Board decides to help illegal immigrants enroll in college when our state unemployment rate is 11 percent and citizens need help with retraining and education” said Ron Woodard, director of NC Listen.

Supporters of the policy say it will only impact a small amount of people and won't take away seats from U.S. citizens.

Is Dobbs trying to make nice?

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs had long been considered one of the most vocal anti-illegal immigration advocates on television and radio.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the former CNN anchor, pondering a run for the Senate or maybe even for President, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of the fast-growing ethnic bloc.

In an interview Friday, Dobbs told Spanish-language network Telemundo he now supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers, despite the fact that he long called these programs an unfair "amnesty."

"Whatever you have thought of me in the past, I can tell you right now that I am one of your greatest friends and I mean for us to work together," he said in a live interview with Telemundo's Maria Celeste. "I hope that will begin with Maria and me and Telemundo and other media organizations and others in this national debate that we should turn into a solution rather than a continuing debate and factional contest."

Dobbs mentioned a possible legalization plan for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., saying "we need the ability to legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions."

Advocates on the left and right side of the immigration debate seemed perplexed by the about-face of his stance on the issue.

Frank Sharry, who heads America's Voice, a group that advocates for legalizing undocumented immigrants, told the Journal that Dobbs's conversion isn't credible, given his history of opposing efforts to liberalize immigration policies.

Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, which seeks strict border enforcement and opposes legalization, said he admired Mr. Dobbs and will "watch him for several months before drawing a conclusion."

Click here to connect to the Telemundo website where you can see video of the interview in English.

Dobbs: Obama's 'Not the devil, but...'

Former CNN newsman Lou Dobbs said Monday that CNN pushed him out the door because its top executives didn’t want to offend President Obama. Dobbs spoke to Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, his first interview since suddenly leaving the network.

In his last few years at CNN, Dobbs had became one of the staunchest and most powerful critics of illegal immigration. He told O'Reilly that CNN executives didn’t seem to mind when he lobbed such criticism while George W. Bush was president.

The New York Post reported that CNN gave Dobbs an $8 million severance package. O’Reilly also asked Dobbs if he’d consider running for a New Jersey seat in the U.S. Senate. He didn't rule it out.

"A lot of things are on my mind, I'm not going to be coy about that," Dobbs said. "My wife and I are thinking about a lot of opportunities. I'm very blessed that I have a lot of opportunities. I guarantee you 100 percent I'm going to remain in the public arena."

The two also talked about the controversy over Obama’s birth certificate, reported death threats made to Dobbs, and his family’s concerns about a gunshot fired near his N.J. home.

Then O’Reilly threw out his most pointed question: "Final question, Barack Obama, is he the devil?"

Dobbs didn’t flinch.

"He's not the devil, but he is certainly a man who is right now not making it easy to understand why he's making the public-policy choices that he is."

Next up: Dobbs continues his media tour. Tomorrow, he's scheduled to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. That should be interesting.

Here is a video clip from the interview from O'Reilly Factor. The actual interview begins at 2:20 minutes.

Photo Credit: Willens/AP