The following is derived from an older exposé but it is a telling example of our broken immigration system. It is appropriate to revisit this with the “Caravan” of “immigrants” heading for the Texas border.

You may or may not be a fan of Snopes.com, but when they say the information is “TRUE” it is more reliable than when they say it is “FALSE.” This is especially the case when the issuing of “TRUE” goes against their leftist tendencies.

The claim was that 70% of the women who gave birth at Parkland Memorial Hospital in the first three months of 2006 were illegal immigrants. According to Snopes that claim was “TRUE.” Parkland Memorial Hospital is the Dallas County public hospital. It is a teaching hospital and came to fame when President Kennedy was brought there after his assassination.

[Sources: Parkland Is Brimming with Babies, by Sherry Jacobsen; Parkland Will Treat All Moms-to-Be, by Sherry Jacobsen; and Texas Hospitals’ Separate Paths Reflect the Debate on Immigration, by Julia Preston of the NYT]

According to the sources listed, the hospital’s annual deliveries are approximately 15,000 babies or 42 infants per day. Parkland is the second busiest maternity hospital in the US. That translates into greater than 11,000 anchor babies born every year just in one Dallas hospital.

Costs are another issue, but not as important as the anchor babies issue. Nonetheless the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering those babies. Medicaid paid $34.5 million, Dallas County taxpayers kicked in $31.3 million and the federal government actually made up more than the difference (another $9.5 million). So basically, American citizens footed the entire bill. Remember, we are only looking at one hospital in one border state. Admittedly, this is a particularly flagrant example, BUT IT STILL IS ONLY ONE HOSPITAL IN ONE BORDER STATE!

The average patient in Parkland’s maternity wards is 25-year-old illegal immigrant. By law, pregnant women cannot be denied medical care based on their immigration status or ability to pay (not that I am suggesting they should be denied medical care). Under the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act hospitals are obligated to provide care to pregnant women in need of emergency help, and those that fail to do so are subject to fines of up to $50,000 per violation and exclusion from Medicare and state health care programs. Does anyone believe that such a law is not an incentive? As Mexican natives it would have cost these women $200 to have their baby in Mexico – it’s a better deal in the USA!

But the actual birth isn’t the totality of the “freebies.” They also receive free prenatal care including medication, nutrition, birthing classes and child care classes. They also get freebies such as car seats, bottles, diapers and formula.

It is well known that these “immigrants” have jobs and income (and, yes, they pay taxes). However, because they are illegal immigrants they do not have to provide any sort of identification. They do not need to show if they have income. They do not need to provide a social security number (which would reveal their annual income).

What is required, ask you? The only “requirement,” answer I, is that they claim to be poor and the hospital must take them at their word.

My friends, this is a broken system and neither party has the will to fix it.

And thanks to JP for sending this to me.

Roy Filly