UTMB fights to send a patient home...to Mexico

CBSHouston reports that UTMB is having problems sending a paralyzed man back to Mexico, even going so far as to offer a plane ticket.

The gentleman in question, Francisco Martinez, was hurt in a work accident, but he is in this country illegally. While he remains in the hospital his family is staying in a homeless shelter in Galveston.

It's unclear whether his current treatment at UTMB can be considered "emergency" treatment, which the hospital is obligated to provide.

I'd say that Step One would be for someone to figure out who he was working for and figure out how to prosecute the employer. Perhaps even find some hotshot lawyer to figure out how to sue the employer for the guy's medical bills and family expenses.

After all, he wouldn't need to be here if someone hadn't given him a job.

Until we as a society start finding the employers liable for the actions of the illegal immigrants that they are supporting here we won't see a change in behavior on anyone's part. The situation now seems to be a close cousin to slavery, with people living in fear of deportation or living on the margins.

Living a marginalized life isn't fair to this man, or his family, and this is just another example of how our current border policy (or lack thereof) is hurting people on both sides of the border. Just as slavery was the defining issue of the 1800s, it looks like illegal immigration will be the defining issue of this century.

Maybe the Occupy Wall Street bunch could occupy the border.

DREAM Act up for debate in Senate, tacked onto military bill

The DREAM Act, a way for young illegals immigrants to end up with amnesty, has just come to my attention in the last few weeks, but I hadn't had time to really study it.

Turns out that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided that it needs to be on the Senate's pre-midterm agenda ASAP.

There's a lot to read on it, but it looks like most of the language has been around since 2001 or before. When something's been around that long, does it get stale? When you have to tack it onto a military appropriations bill does it mean that it's suspicious?

How is this relevant to UHCL, you axe?

Looks like the path to citizenship is conditional on graduating from college. So if this passes, in addition to keeping students from graduating, or making them take classes over, because they don't do enough work in a class, faculty will now be blamed for having someone deported. Actually, I've heard that from graduate students for years.

Now it will be that way for even MORE students: "But Dr. Michael, I have to get an A in your class or my GPA will be too low for me to graduate, and I won't get my citizenship." I can hear it now. We ALREADY get "I'll lose my scholarship if I can't pass your class." Bah.

I think amnesty is still amnesty. I know it's unfair that these folks are here as children, but isn't it also unfair that thousands of people every year wait and wait to come here LEGALLY? How is it OK to let these folks jump over all of those already waiting?

Military service? That path has been available for many years, but just for certain groups. Again, jumping ahead.

HOW ABOUT we have 1:1 reciprocity? We should perfectly mirror the immigration laws of Mexico, here. Isn't that a basic requirement of all ethical treatment - do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Sounds biblical huh? Not really. Reciprocity is a basic tenet of justice. If it's good enough for you, it should be required for you to treat others that way.

In other words, you cut the pie and I pick which piece I want. That rule smacks of reciprocity.

Anchor babies 101

Just as the anchor baby debate is heating up locally, we get some stats from Parkland hospital in Dallas, the state recordholder for births to citizens of foreign states.

11,000 plus per year. And counting.