Hospital district struggles with burden from beyond its borders (Houston)

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 1, 2005 | BILL MURPHY

[bayourod]

Have you ever wondered why no responsible person has seriously proposed that we can seal our borders from illegal laborers? In the San Diego sector we have double fences, patrol roads, floodlights, underground motion sensors, unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles, all terrain vehicles, helicopters, patrol roads, horse patrols and one of the highest concentration of guards. Still they come by the thousands every year.

The Mexican border averages five guards per mile, and still hundreds of thousands cross every year. If five per mile doesn't work how many would you estimate it would take to stop all of them? Ten per mile? Twenty? The cost per guard is $150,000 per year. At just ten per mile that's $1,500,000 per mile per year.

Since there are over 100,000 miles of border around the U.S., that means we would need one million border guards at an annual cost of $150,000,000,000. Even if you could find one million people willing to walk the deserts and mountains, the illegals would still get through.

That's a very high price to pay for no real reason.

[investigateworld]

Let's be realistic and us the oft cited figure for the Mexican border of say 2,000 miles. Of course you don't station one agent every mile, you find the focus points, where roads come together and do inspection stations there.
Of course, there will have to be interior enforcement. Here in Oregon, I can point out fifty illegals in about two hours. In California, I could do that in two minutes.
You never did answer my question to you I posted earlier. Do I have to ask for sanctions? (lol)

[bayourod]

5,000 miles of border with Canada 1,900 miles of border with Mexico 95,000 miles of shoreline.

Again, we already have more than five guards per mile on the Mexican border and your fellow anti-immigrants call that an "open border".(And yes they know how to work crossroads)

I have never heard any credible person make a serious case that the border can be sealed. And I don't consider Michael Savage to be a credible person.

[investigateworld]

I was hoping you had some answers I sought in Post # 13. I don't know how to provide free services to people, short of inventing a money bird to crap it out.
And I'm happy to hear Huston is booming, Oregon is still flat, prolly No. 3 in unemployment.
Of course, you do believe those guest workers are going home in six years?

[bayourod]

"I was hoping you had some answers I sought in Post # 13"

I don't even know what you were talking about in post #13.

I've never heard of a charity hospital getting a writ of attachment for current wages. In Texas, the only time I've seen wages garnished is for child support.

But it's very common for citizens to avoid garnishment by changing jobs every six months when the courts catch up with them. I've never known of an illegal needing to do it.

[politicalwit]

"Again, we already have more than five guards per mile on the Mexican border"

Can you provide the reference for this statement?

[investigateworld]

Hmmmm I guess were are talking apples and oranges. Neither Oregon or California has 'charity' hospitals. In California, state law mandates a county maintain a hospital district which will pursue you to the ends of the earth to collect, and Oregon has a mixture of both public supported and private. In every case, one is expected to pay for services received. We had a very inexpensive Basic Health Plan, but more doctors are refusing to accept patients from it as the payment schedule don't cover expenses.
Just strikes me as odd, a legal individual will be hounded for payment, while a person who is not even supposed to be here gets a free ride. (BTW, my mother was an legal immigrant as is my SIL and I strongly believe we need to become more picky as to who gets in) Again, I have no easy answer as to how to supply free services without taxing someone else)

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

Well, how about immediate deportation as soon as state or local law enforcement agencies learn that an individual is an illegal? I have relatives who are cops, and they arrest people ALL THE TIME who they know to be illegals, yet can't do a thing about it. The feds shoulder the burden but can't handle it, so let the local LEOs get involved and maybe that will help stem the tide. Put 'em on a bus back to Mexico after first serving a prison sentence for breaking our laws.

That, and a wall along the border. With land mines. Sure, it'll never happen, but I can dream...