Advocates for illegal aliens and their tactics
Posted by E Van Staaveren on Mon, 04/03/2017
Two bills before the Oregon Legislature in March 2017 illustrate the tactics of illegal alien advocates in using children to institutionalize acceptance of illegal immigration. Their position is that anyone who opposes health care to children is mean and unfeeling.
The bills are HB 2726 and SB 558, with identical text. They entitle “all children” in Oregon to state-paid health care. We already have Medicaid and the Oregon Health Plan that cover indigent citizens and their children, so why add another plan?
Almost all of the statements submitted by interested parties at the Legislature’s hearings carefully avoid mention of the illegal status of the proposed recipients; they simply cite a figure of some 17,000 children estimated not to have regular access to medical care.
Who is pushing these bills? Both of the bills were pre-Session filed, meaning that they were probably filed at the request of someone or some organization, besides the sponsors named in the bill. Named sponsors are: for HB 2726, Reps. Gilliam, Huffman, Monnes Anderson, Alonso Leon, Marsh and Senators Roblan and Boquist. For SB 558, legislative sponsors are Senators Roblan, Kruse, and Boquist, Reps. Huffman, Alonso Leon, and Olson.
Public hearings were held early in the session, one immediately after the other; the House hearing first on Feb. 20 and the Senate next on Feb. 21. This could be viewed as fast-tracking by the Legislative leadership to push through quickly a bill they expect would face public opposition if fully known and understood.
While the bill had little public notice, its advocates had advance, unlimited opportunity to prepare and present their testimony. The result was predictable: At the House hearing, some 43 supportive “exhibits” were presented but only one short statement from a private citizen that politely questioned the expenditure in light of the state’s financial situation. At the Senate hearing, there was also a large number of supportive statements and no opposing statements.
At both hearings, most supporters of the bills were well-practiced lobbyists from organizations many of which are known for regularly speaking in favor of unlimited immigration and citizenship privileges for anyone who chooses to come into the U.S. and settle here, without regard to the wishes of, or effects on, citizens.
These organizations had representatives who submitted supportive statements to the House Health Care Committee for its hearing on HB 2726 on Feb. 20:
AFL-CIO Political Director
AFSCME Council 75
American Federation of Teachers Oregon
Asian Pacific-American Network of Oregon
Basic Rights Oregon
Cascade AIDS Project
CAUSA Oregon
Children First for Oregon
Coalition for a Healthy Oregon
Coalition of Communities of Color
Coalition of Community Health Clinics
Fair Shot for All Coalition
Family Forward Oregon
Health Share of Oregon
Human Services Coalition of Oregon
Keny-Guyer, Rep. Alissa, representing Rep. Vic Gilliam
League of Women Voters of Oregon
Legacy Health (a health care provider)
Moda Health
Multnomah County Office of Government Relations
Northwest Health Foundation
Northwest Human Services
Northwest Workers’ Justice Project
Oregon Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs
Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs
Oregon Community Health Workers
Oregon Education Association
Oregon Health Equity Alliance
Oregon Latino Health Coalition
Oregon Law Center
Oregon Nurses Association
Oregon Primary Care Association
Oregon Public Health Institute
Oregon School-Based Health Alliance
Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Oregon’s Farmworker Union
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon
Portland Jobs with Justice
Portland State University, student
Service Employees International Union, Oregon State Council
United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 555
United Oregon
YWCA of Greater Portland
Many of the same organizations listed above again presented “exhibits” at the next day’s hearing by the Senate on SB 558. Also, these organizations which did not make statements for the House hearing, did so for the Senate hearing.
Coalition of Local Health Officials
Oregon Center for Public Policy
Siskiyou Community Health Center
Valley Family Health Care
Wallace Medical Center
The medical groups can hardly be blamed for seeking public funds to help their work because they’re daily confronted with far greater numbers of people needing medical care than would be here if immigration were controlled as it should be.
The answer to this medical care problem as well as the answer to the chaos now surging in the nation is to reduce immigration levels to sustainable numbers. We are in dire need of a moratorium on immigration for an extended period because for several decades now, the levels have been far too high, overwhelming the country’s capacity to provide an acceptable quality of life for citizens. Our natural environment is dangerously degraded because of overpopulation, and at the same time, all social services are faltering from too-high demand.
Citizens who understand immigration issues and work for strict immigration law enforcement or reductions in immigration are often labeled haters and all-around bad guys. It is fair to call out opponents of immigration controls, point out the fallacies of their arguments and question their motives as well.
Politicians and political groups advocating for amnesties and benefits to illegal aliens consistently oppose efforts to pass mandatory E-Verify requirements for all employers, a step that would soon effectively stop illegal immigration. Opponents claim the federal E-Verify program is not ready or is too prone to errors that hurt workers. Such claims have no merit, as the program is not new, having been started in 1997 and now with some 20 years of successful operation.
The basic dividing question is: Should the U.S. continue to be a nation or should we have open borders and admit any and all persons who may wish to live here? Sensible people realize the dangers of open borders, and most prefer to continue as a nation. European countries are showing vividly what happens when there are inadequate limits to immigration.
Too many citizens are naïve and quick to sympathize when media highlight illegal immigrants as blameless and forced to live “in the shadows.” Immigration laws exist to protect the safety and well-being of citizens, and if these laws are not respected and enforced, the U.S. will swiftly be subsumed by the millions around the world who would like to live here.
Aspiring immigrants should work to improve their own countries instead of fleeing them. The U.S. has given generous financial aid and technical assistance to poor countries continuously for over 70 years; it’s time for them to help themselves now.
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