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November 04, 2009 NEW CRS Report: Eligibility and Verification Issues in the New House Healthcare Bill By FAIR's Government Relations group A just released Congressional Research Service (CRS) report looks at the impact of immigration on the four separate healthcare bills released by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives over the past six weeks. The crux of the report looks at the different interpretations of eligibility for non-citizens and the verification process for immigrants. Of relevance are statistics, highlighted in this report, that show that nearly 60 percent of non-citizens in the United States do not have private health insurance. This includes the 17.5 percent of non-citizens who are on government health care (4.9 percent on Medicare, 11.8 percent on Medicaid, and 0.8 percent on Military/Veteran health care) and 41.9 percent of non-citizens are uninsured (see Figure 1 on Page 6 of the Report). This report also notes that nearly 80 percent of non-citizens fall below 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. (See Figure 2 on Page 7 of the Report). This is relevant because the latest version of the House health care bill (H.R. 3962) will allow many families, including non-citizen families, to access the subsidies in the bill to buy taxpayer-financed health care. This income limit would make many non-citizen families, making up to $88,200 per year for a family of four, eligible to receive the taxpayer-funded benefit. To read CRS' full report click here.
Health Care Debate Focuses on Waiting Period for Legal Immigrants The debate over health care legislation in Congress has focused for now on the issue of coverage for legal immigrants. The Democratic health legislation would cover legal immigrants immediately, in contravention to the five-year waiting period that was part of President Clinton's welfare reform compromise in 1996. The debate has brought in ethnic and religious lobbying groups, the New York Times reports, who generally support universal taxpayer funded for all immigrants, legal or illegal.
Stats Show Increase In Criminal Illegal Aliens Apprehended ICE has released enforcement statistics for the last Fiscal Year, showing a near doubling of arrests of fugitive criminal illegal aliens (absconders), from 7,900 to about 16,000. The increase has likely come at the cost of other enforcement, since the number of non-criminal absconders arrested fell by over 25 percent, from 26,000 to 19,000.
$1.5 Million Fine Not Chicken Feed for Poultry Farm House of Raeford Farms has settled an illegal hiring case brought by the DHS, and agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine as well as overhaul its hiring. In addition, two managers at Raeford Farms will undergo probation in lieu of jail. As part of the settlement, Raeford agreed to use the E-Verify system to verify new hires.
Enforce Immigration Law to Help the Economy Michael Cutler with Family Security Matters says we need enforcement of our immigration laws to help Americans seeking employment. He points out that illegal immigrants are often willing to accept illegal wages and working conditions, putting American workers at a disadvantage. And, even in cases where foreign workers are brought in legally, as under H-1B visas, there is still abuse of the requirements that firms pay prevailing wages.
Jay Ambrose: High Costs of Illegal Immigration Affect Health Care Columnist Jay Ambrose says that the health costs of illegal immigration are high now and will only continue to grow if we don't enforce the laws against illegal immigrants. "Amnesty would be a disaster, terribly costly and an invitation for others to come here illegally as well, and the Democrats should give up this hunt for votes, just as Republicans ought to quit seeking out cheap labor for business constituents."
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