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Doctors Aren't Border Agents
LA Times, Local Section ^ | 5-16-04 | Steve Lopez

Posted on 05/16/2004 6:59:18 AM PDT by LNewman

I camped outside Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's house in Huntington Beach the other day to make sure no illegal immigrants showed up to mow the lawn.

It wouldn't have been good timing for the congressman if they did. A vote is due this week in Washington on a bill by Rohrabacher that would require doctors and nurses to report suspected illegals for deportation.

Why should MDs do the dirty work? Seems to me that if Rohrabacher really wants to drive out illegal immigrants, he should have introduced a bill imposing fines on neighbors who hire undocumented gardeners. I saw lots of trimming and leaf-blowing as I approached his house.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: aliens; illegals; immigrantlist
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To: raybbr

I appreciate your reply. THIS makes sense.

BUT I see - here in the city - that an 'undocumented crew' just blows leaves to the next backyard, resp. parking lot.
It's B.S. !!!!

Or let's call it a 'job creation'....


21 posted on 05/16/2004 8:13:55 AM PDT by traumer
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To: steplock
Most socialists are happy little worker ants - like the chinese peasants - many little happy workers toiling for their masters. You don't really think the govt is an agent of yours, do you?

So far you've called me "brainwashed" and "socialist".

Yes. The government is an agent of mine. I fully realize it's doing a perfectly lousy job but it's a better job than someone with your weak skills about what purpose a society serves and how it should function can do. You're just another big-mouthed loose cannon with an Internet Warrior resume.

Step aside, Junior. There is real discussion going on around you.

22 posted on 05/16/2004 8:14:34 AM PDT by Glenn (The two keys to character: 1) Learn how to keep a secret. 2) ...)
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To: LNewman
So all we've got, in the end, is Rohrabacher throwing a bone to knuckle-dragging constituents.

Obviously Lopez is not a fan of this forum.

23 posted on 05/16/2004 8:16:04 AM PDT by Amerigomag
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To: LNewman

This is odd...seems doctors don't have a problem making people's gun ownership a part of their medical record that they can provide to the government.


24 posted on 05/16/2004 8:19:01 AM PDT by krb (the statement on the other side of this tagline is false)
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To: jocon307

"This is a ridiculous burden to put on a doctor."

I would agree under one condition, the next time I show up at the doctor they wont ask me for my insurance card or send me a bill if I don't have my card. The doctors finance people seem to not complain about having to collect my money. Why isn't it not a ridiculous burden to report my family when they don't pay the bills, but it would be for illegels?


25 posted on 05/16/2004 8:26:36 AM PDT by seastay
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To: LNewman

26 posted on 05/16/2004 8:27:42 AM PDT by steplock (http://www.gohotsprings.com)
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To: Glenn
Here's a little more from Lopez's article (username: username - password: password):

I asked the crew chief, a legal resident, if he ever asks employees [gardeners] for papers.
Nope.
And how about the homeowners who hire them? Do they ask for papers?
Never, he said.

snip

Aleta said she works at a restaurant where many employees are illegal, but nobody says or does anything about it.

snip

I'm sure Rohrabacher would say this only supports his argument. But in fact, it tells us how dated he's become.

snip

"Rohrabacher is like the last Japanese soldier on the island who still hasn't heard the war is over," said Frank Sharry of the National Immigration Forum, one of the leading foes of Rohrabacher's bill.

snip

Most of Rohrabacher's colleagues in the GOP have moved beyond the Dark Ages of the immigration debate, Sharry said. Even President Bush rolled out a legalization plan for illegals...

snip

There's no substantive proposal, said Sharry, that would provide a steady, legal supply of needed workers with a realistic plan of enforcement.

snip

"Illegal immigration will bring down this country," he [Rohrabacher] claimed. And if you take away benefits like healthcare and education, he argued, people will stop coming.

snip

If all that's true, I asked, why don't law-and-order Republican colleagues back him up?

Because they're owned by corporate titans and wealthy Americans who want cheap labor, Rohrabacher said.

snip

So all we've got, in the end, is Rohrabacher throwing a bone to knuckle-dragging constituents. Most of whom, I'm guessing, don't ask to see the gardener's green card before he starts mowing.

27 posted on 05/16/2004 8:32:10 AM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: DumpsterDiver

As for doctors having to report things, in most places they are required by law to report gunshot wounds and stabbings not to speak of drawing blood on request to establish DUI. why not add one more class of criminals?


28 posted on 05/16/2004 8:44:23 AM PDT by FRMAG
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To: FRMAG
...in most places they are required by law to report gunshot wounds and stabbings not to speak of drawing blood on request to establish DUI. why not add one more class of criminals?

I'm in agreement with you. In his article Lopez seems to be saying that we should all admit defeat (and admit de feet of illegals) and just shut up about it.

29 posted on 05/16/2004 8:49:32 AM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: jocon307
"This is a ridiculous burden to put on a doctor."

Not--if ANYONE is aware of illegal aliens, it is their responsibility to report them.

"It will not be beneficial to the general public in any way."

Only to the tune of billions of dollars and thousands of criminal acts per year.

Why doesn't he try getting the police departments to identify illegal immigrant criminals, for a start."

They are supposed to. "Politically correct" (i.e. liberal) politicians actively forbid them to do so. This needs to change, as well.

"Immigration is a big problem, but it isn't doctors' and school teachers' responsibiltiy to be policemen and immigration officers."

So you have bought totally into the idea that "it's all governments responsibililty". As citizens it is our duty to report criminal activity when we see it. That many of us have been brainwashed to believe that it is NOT our responsibility is sad.

30 posted on 05/16/2004 8:52:24 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel)
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To: LNewman
Seems to me that if Rohrabacher really wants to drive out illegal immigrants, he should have introduced a bill imposing fines on neighbors who hire undocumented gardeners. I saw lots of trimming and leaf-blowing as I approached his house.

What an a*****e.
Couldn't spot an illegal where he wanted to so badly, so he suggests that Rohrabacher snoop on her neighbors. What an idiot. He gives himself away as a total moron.

I hire a Mexican to do my garden work, and I defy him or anyone else to determine if he is legal or not (he is) by looking at him. I love these idiots who pile presumption onto presumption just to pretend to have something to write about.

31 posted on 05/16/2004 8:53:52 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I don't do diplomacy either.)
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To: LNewman

Just make sure the MDs don't get any gubbermint money for treating illegals. Then you'll see how fast they'll become "border agents"


32 posted on 05/16/2004 8:55:50 AM PDT by dennisw (Mohammed wrote: "Cut off their heads, and cut off the tips of their fingers." (Sura 8:12))
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To: DumpsterDiver

Thank you for the link!


33 posted on 05/16/2004 8:58:31 AM PDT by lainde (Heads up...We're coming and we've got tongue blades!!)
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To: LNewman
Doctors reporting illegals... not as offensive to me as doctors asking about guns in the home, but not part of their job, either.

Wouldn't it be nice if government left us alone to be free and live our lives as we see fit?

34 posted on 05/16/2004 9:01:53 AM PDT by Teacher317
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To: jocon307
That is a completely different situation, apples and oranges.

Only if you are among those who have to struggle with the definition of "is".
What is it about breaking the law that gives you special priveleges to pick and choose which ones you like? Party affiliation, maybe?

35 posted on 05/16/2004 9:03:26 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I don't do diplomacy either.)
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To: Publius6961
so he suggests that Rohrabacher snoop on her neighbors.

That's true too --- the average person will refer to people as "Mexicans" whose families have lived in the USA for many generations --- even before their states joined with the USA. It would be the wrong approach to have your neighbors call INS anytime they think they saw a "Mexican" in your yard or enter your house so you can be raided and someone who never stepped foot in Mexico gets questioned.

36 posted on 05/16/2004 9:03:33 AM PDT by FITZ
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To: LNewman

I'm a physician and I would gladly report them. I don't want the government to pay for any of my services so get rid of medicaid and medicare and I would be happy. I know I am in the minority on that idea and as it is now I must accept the governments money or close the dooors to my offfice. You will never see me belonging to a group that asks the government for more money. I've had illegal aliens ask me to use a different name to write their off work notes. They are illegal and working here illegally. I tell them I can not lie or be any part of fraud.


37 posted on 05/16/2004 9:12:33 AM PDT by therut
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To: LNewman

Until the Feds even begin to address their Constitutoinal duty to defend our borders, Congress can go pound salt with clap-trap like this bill. Do your own work , Federales.


38 posted on 05/16/2004 9:15:40 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: LNewman

"Doctors Aren't Border Agents" just like employers and store owners aren't tax collectors, right?


39 posted on 05/16/2004 9:23:51 AM PDT by Abcdefg
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To: LNewman
Well, I'm an MD and I would be delighted to report illegals for deportation - except that there is no chance that any would be deported.

The fish rots from the head. In this case, the failure of Congress to provide a robust interior enforcement program (which is their job, and no one else's) leads to failures all down the line-local law enforcement, hospitals, businesses, etc.

Under the current arrangement, there is no reason to "report", no one to report to, and no chance action will be taken if you do report.

There must be a presumption of guilt for illegals-if you get turned in, you disappear immediately to an intermediate detention facility where you have a chance to prove legal status (but with the burden of proof on you), followed by a bus ride to the border.

I cannot even imagine how we got to where we are today, but it's up to Congress to create some semblance of sanity on this front.

Until they do, leave me alone.

40 posted on 05/16/2004 9:25:46 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Now you go feed those hogs before they worry themselves into anemia!)
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