Montgomery County Prenatal Program Benefits Illegal Aliens
October 29th, 2007The quote in this article is mine regarding the attendance at the local Commissioner’s meeting on Thursday, March 29th, 2007. It’s nice to see the media actually reporting on things fairly for a change. I love how the Commissioner Chairman basically said - if we don’t spend the money on this program we don’t get to allocate it to another program. What a bunch of BULL SHIT. So we are just STUCK paying for illegal alien prenatal care? Watch and see how much longer we are stuck with this because Americans are pissed off about paying for illegal aliens and we are not going to take it any more.
Commissioner Chairman Tom Ellis also said essentially, that if we don’t take care of the pre-born babies of illegal aliens, we will pay much more for them once they are born if they have medical complications since they will be US Citizens. Umm.. might I remind the Chairman that *while* these babies are in the womb they are in the bellies of women who are here illegally and they are most definitely NOT US Citizens. We should not be treating illegal alien children IN THE WOMB. We should be deporting their mothers BEFORE taxpayers pay for the birth and medical care and schooling of that child for the rest of it’s childhood.
I’m tired of seeing my government shrug their shoulders and say there is nothing they can do. DAMMIT there sure is and you better all start doing your DAMN JOBS or we are going to put a new government in. This is particularly relevant now that all the County Commissioners (except Tom Ellis) are up for election and we have a chance to put someone STRONG in the County Commissioner seat - Bruce Castor.
Of particular note is the fact that, after my attendance at this County Commissioner’s meeting in Marich of 2007, the County Health Department *changed* their web page and removed the phrase showing that the Prenatal Service Program was “for any pregnant woman who lives in Montgomery County and has been rejected by Medical Assistance because of undocumented residency status”
The County Prenatal Services Program web site now reads as follows:
Must be low income, uninsured pregnant women who live in Montgomery County and are rejected by Medical Assistance
Residents angry over free prenatal care
phillyBurbs.com
Some Montgomery County taxpayers are challenging a county program that provides prenatal services to uninsured illegal immigrants.Until late last week, the county’s Web site said its prenatal services program, funded this year with a $192,000 state grant, was available to Montgomery County pregnant women who had been “rejected by medical assistance because of undocumented residency status.”
The county changed that statement to say the program is available to low-income pregnant residents who are “rejected by medical assistance,” after residents complained at Thursday’s commissioners meeting that it looked as if the county was reaching out to illegal immigrants and forgetting about U.S. citizens.
The program provides prenatal lab tests, pharmacy services, and assistance with nutrition issues and smoking cessation to help reduce infant mortality and preventable diseases.
“You’re making it more comfortable for [illegal immigrants],” Ruth Miller, of East Norriton, said during the meeting. “You’re shirking your duties by doing this. How many American citizens will be turned away for lack of funding because [illegal aliens] are getting [health care]?”
County spokesman John Corcoran said illegal immigrants won’t be turned away, but comments by Miller and two other women at last week’s meeting triggered the change in the Web site.
“We looked into it and it was a mistake,” Corcoran said of the Web wording. “So it was clarified to just say it was for anyone rejected by medical assistance, because that’s who it’s for.”
Program funding comes through the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Maternal and Child Health grant.
Human services director Joe Roynan said many Mexican nationals take advantage of the program. It was unclear Monday afternoon exactly how many undocumented mothers have used the services.
“It’s a worthy program,” Roynan said. “Once born, that child is a resident.”
Miller objected, saying: “Before he is born, his mother is an illegal immigrant and should be deported.”
SERVICES AVAILABLE
Services are available at: Family OB/GYN Center of Montgomery at 15 W. Wood St. in Norristown,
(610) 270-2488
; and Mercy Suburban OB/GYN Center at 2701 DeKalb Street in Norristown,
(610) 278-2171
.
Melissa Busch can be reached at
215-957-8168
or mbusch@phillyBurbs.com.
This is the article in The Times Herald
Program for illegals draws fire
04/04/2007
COURTHOUSE - Montgomery County’s Prenatal Service Program (PSP), which targets pregnant illegal aliens who can’t get health insurance, is under fire from several citizens who contend that the undocumented immigrants should be deported rather than be provided with health services.
However, county officials defend the program.
“Deportation is not in our domain,” county human services Director Joseph Roynan said. “Our domain is the care of infants, to make as sure as possible that they are not born with birth defects or other disabilities regardless of the status of the infant’s mother.”
“Before that child is born, the mother is here illegally and should be deported,” maintained East Norriton resident Ruth Miller, claiming that the county was facilitating illegal immigration by offering the prenatal program.
Once the child is born, that child is a U.S. citizen and is entitled to numerous benefits including health care, commissioners Chairman Thomas J. Ellis responded.
It makes better financial sense to make sure the child is born healthy rather than to have to spend more money to address a child’s health problems resulting from a lack of care during a mother’s pregnancy, Ellis explained.
The issue was raised at last week’s meeting of the county commissioners, who signed off on a $192,000 state PSP grant. Half of the money will be used to pay the Montgomery Hospital OB/GYN Clinic for PSP services it provides and the other half will be used for similar services provided by the Mercy-Suburban OB/GYN Clinic.
The state grant funds provide clinics with an $800 subsidy for each participant, covering the cost of doctor visits, tests, vitamins and delivery.
The PSP program, which began operating in the county in 2001, provides free prenatal care for women who are uninsurable and living in the Norristown and Abington areas.
The largest number of women in the program are uninsured because of their undocumented status, with the PSP program primarily targeting Hispanic women in the Norristown area and Asian women in the Abington area.
Miller contended that pregnant women who are U.S. citizens are unable to receive help from this program that favors illegal aliens.
That is not accurate, according to Roynan.
If a pregnant U.S. citizen is not eligible for health insurance elsewhere, she will be accepted into the program. However, pregnant women who are citizens of the United States normally can obtain medical assistance and/or qualify for other prenatal programs offered by the county’s health department, he said.
Ellis said the state grant funds are specifically earmarked for uninsurable pregnant women.
These funds are not put into other programs if the county does not use them, he added.
There has been an increasing number of births by Hispanic women in the Norristown area.
Of the 509 births in the Norristown area in 2000, 413 were by non-Hispanic women and 95 were by Hispanic women. By 2004, Hispanic women had given birth to 267 of the 726 infants born in the Norristown area.
This is my Letter to the Editor of the Times Herald that was published about 3 weeks later:
On Thursday, March 29th, the Montgomery County Commissioners unanimously approved allocating $192,000 of your Pennsylvania tax dollars to the Prenatal Service Program which benefits pregnant illegal aliens residing in Montgomery County. Yes, you heard that right. According to the Montgomery County Health Department web site the program is for pregnant women residing in Montgomery County who are unable to receive prenatal benefits from Welfare “because of their undocumented residency status”.
Before I became aware of this program, I had asked the question of my state representatives in the past. “Do illegal aliens receive social services funded by taxpayers in the state of Pennsylvania” and every single time I asked that I was told “No”. Now this really concerns me because either they are hiding this known fact from taxpayers or they don’t really know HOW our money is being spent at all even though they are in the position to approve the funding for these unkown programs.
I questioned the program before the Commissioners on Thursday and Chairman Tom Ellis gave this explanation which I paraphrase here - “Well since we can’t do anything about deporting these women becuase of Federal Pre-emption, they are going to have their babies here and they will become US Citizens and since we can’t prevent that, we might as well prevent a future US citizen from having birth defects”. Yes you heard that right folks. Total abdication of governmental responsibility! Since the Feds won’t do their job and we know we will be stuck with this baby being born at our expense and they will become an instant US Citizen, we might as well extend caring for that baby “before it is even born. I have one problem with that. Before that baby is born it is being carried in the womb of a woman who snuck into the country illegally via a human smuggler, knowingly breaking our immigration laws, knowing that she will have free childbirth at American taxpayer expense and her child will receive taxpayer funded social services and a free American education. This is thievery in the name of being good for children.
I would like to know why it is illegal to “knowingly” employ illegal aliens but it is not a crime to “knowingly” give them $800 of taxpayer money EACH to help them with things like with prenatal vitamins, smoking cessation etc. Of course they are going to keep coming here in droves! This is better than the lottery for women living in poverty south of our border. I’m tired of seeing our social services people and our schools spend OUR money giving things away to illegal aliens and their children. They need to be held to the same standard as employers. You can’t have a law that applies only to one sector and not the other. Illegal is illegal whether they are trying to work mowing lawns or whether they are using our taxpayer funded social services. They are illegal the entire time they “reside” in our country without permission.
The complaint we hear over and over from social services and school administrators is that they don’t want to become “immigration agents” but these very same people are in charge of OUR money and how it is spent and American citizens are tired of seeing them give our money away to people who have cut in line in front of legal immigrants. What gives them that right to usurp our immigration laws and totally avoid the immigration process which EVERY country has? Why is Montgomery County facilitating illegal immigration with programs like the Prenatal Service Program?
On March 21st, State Representative Daryl Metcalfe introduced legislation into the Pennsylvania House which will address these and all issues related to illegal immigration in Pennsylvania. States all across the country are starting to take the responsibility of enforcing immigration laws since it is apparent that our Federal government is unwilling to do so. Daryl Metcalfe’s package of bills is called the National Security Begins at Home Illegal Immigration Reform Package and it consists of House bills 750-754 which would shut off public benefits, employment access and other economic faucets contributing to Pennsylvania’s illegal immigrant invasion. If you are outraged as I am that any of my tax money is being spent to help illegal aliens continue to reside in Montgomery County, support Daryl Metcalfe’s reform package by signing the petition at repmatcalfe.com.
I in no way represent Daryl Metcalfe or any politician. I am a concerned Pennsylvania citizen who has become tired of seeing my government acquiesce to illegal immigration and I have vowed to turn that around and take back our country from this invasion.
Here is more information on where the money for the Prenatal Services Program is derived. It comes from what is called the Title V MCH Block Grant. It is State money with matching Federal monies.. all from taxpayer pockets ultimately.
From this study on the population of people who make use of this program is data on “migrants” in Pennsylvania:
The following are characteristics of Pennsylvania’s migrant and seasonal farm worker
community:
• Ninety-five (95) percent are foreign born (91 percent born in Mexico), twice the
proportion of a generation ago.
• Sixty-one (61) percent of the Commonwealth’s hired farm workers live in
poverty.
• Forty-two (42) percent are unauthorized immigrants.
• The average educational attainment is 6 years of school.
• Twenty-four (24) percent are illiterate; another 43 percent are functionally
illiterate.
From the Pew Hispanic Center citing 2005 data:
Pennsylvania had a total of 621,896 “foreign born” people out of a total of 11,948,862 or 5.2 % of the Pennsylvania population.
From 2004 data via the Pew Hispanic Center:
A substantial share of the foreign-born population (just over 10 million or 29%) is
unauthorized (either entering clandestinely without inspection, with fraudulent documents, or
overstaying visas), and a smaller share (2.5 million or 7%) is made up of refugees** (immigrants who fled persecution). Another 3-5% of foreign-born residents are “legal nonimmigrants,” temporary visitors such as students and temporary workers.
So if we calculate 30% of 621,896 “foreign born” persons in Pennsylvania in 2005, we get 186,568 persons who are likely here in Pennsylvania illegally and how many of those 186,568 illegal aliens are mothers and children? If we assume conservatively that 40% of them are mothers with children that comes to 74,672. For each mother let’s say she has an average of 2.5 children, some brought here illegally and some born here. That’s 186,680 children of illegal aliens in Pennsylvania. Take the $800 per woman for prenatal care and multiply by 74,672 and you get $59 million approximately spent on pregnant illegal aliens if they have only ONE child and this is with data that is two years old - just for Pennsylvania. This is $59 million that could be spent on legal citizen residents of Pennsylvania. Remember that when you hear more tax increases are necessary to pay for all these programs - some of which are benefitting people who are here illegally. If the illegal alien woman has multiple pregnancies, she will again be allocated $800 for prenatal care.
Illegal aliens should not be receiving ONE SINGLE DIME of Pennsylvania or American taxpayer money for non-emergency medical care and prenatal care is NOT EMERGENCY CARE. If a woman is having a medical crisis with her pregnancy, she can go to an emergency room and get treatment. Period. Even if she is here illegally. But we need to draw the line on these corollary medical programs funded by US the taxpayers and get our elected officials to DEMAND that only citizens and legal immigrants benefit from the social and medical services that are funded by taxpayer dollars. We must end the magnets that draw illegal aliens to our country and to our state!



