Chairman. let me read from a letter which I will later submit for the RECORD. This is a letter from the Secretary of Health and Human Services. the Clinton administration in this letter indicating that it is opposing the Bryant amendment. The letter from Secretary Donna Shalala says as follows: While the administration strongly opposes undocumented immigration and supports the denial of meanstested government benefits to undocumented immigrants. the Bryant amendment would impose burdensome unfunded mandates on health care providers. seriously jeopardize the health of many U.S. citizens and legal immigrant children. and endanger overall public health. The concern that the administration and others have expressed here. including hospitals. is that we would. in essence. chill the ability of health care providers to conduct the primary purpose of their being in our hospitals and our health care facilities. and that is. to provide medical assistance. What would happen in many cases is you would have to have these facilities acting as INS agents to try to find out if. indeed. the individual they are treating or are about to treat is here legally or is a U.S. citizen.
Keywords matched
undocumented immigrant immigrants immigration