The Republican governor of Texas Greg Abbott The government on Thursday ordered hospitals in the Lone Star State to ask patients about their immigration status to determine the costs of providing medical care to people living in the United States illegally.
In an executive order, Abbott ordered Texas hospitals to compile data on hospital discharges and emergency room visits by immigrants living in the United States without authorization, as well as the costs of providing medical services to this population.
Abbott asked the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to require hospitals to begin collecting the information on Nov. 1 and provide regular reports to state officials.
The order applies to hospitals enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, as well as other health care centers identified by the commission.
Abbott cited record levels of Migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, saying Texas was bearing the economic burden of providing medical services to migrants entering the country illegally.
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“Because of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies, Texas has been left to foot the bill for medical expenses for people in the state illegally,” Abbott said in a statement.
Abbott’s directive states that hospitals must inform patients that the new information collection “will not impact patient care.” He noted in his order that federal law requires hospitals to provide emergency care to anyone, regardless of immigration status.
However, Abbott’s order is likely to be criticized by immigrant rights advocates, who have said similar policies have had a chilling effect on immigrants, discouraging them from accessing medical care for fear of legal repercussions.
Texas Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia condemned the order, accusing Abbott of “social engineering” and seeking to “turn doctors providing medical care to immigrants into ICE agents.”
“People have a right to health care regardless of their citizenship,” said Julia Gelatt, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. “But we know that asking questions can make people feel anxious about the consequences of immigration and the safety of getting health care.”
In his order, Abbott suggested that Texas would seek to have the federal government reimburse the state for those expenses, though it was unclear how, or if, that would happen.
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Texas’ move Thursday is the latest example of Republican-led states adopting stricter immigration laws and policies. Last year, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a tough immigration law that, among other things, requires hospitals to collect information about patients’ immigration status.
Led by Texas, several Republican states have also passed laws to criminalize illegal immigration at the state level and give state officials the power to prosecute suspected offenders. Those state laws have been challenged in federal court by the Justice Department, which has stressed that immigration policy has long been a federal responsibility.
Under Abbott, Texas has mounted a aggressive political and legal challenge to the Biden administration on immigration. The state, for example, has filed lawsuits against virtually every major immigration action taken by President Biden.
Abbott also ordered state officials to bus tens of thousands of migrants to Democratic-run cities, tasked the state National Guard with fortifying the banks of the Rio Grande with barbed wire and asked state police to arrest migrants accused of trespassing.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
