HEALTH CARE REFORM SHOULD COVER ALL IMMIGRANTS

Rep. Joe Wilson Republican of South Carolina yelled you, "You lie," when Pres. Barack Obama said that the new health care reform bill would not cover "illegal immigrants."

Ann Gerhart and Philip Rucker write for today's The Washington Post on Wilson:

""We need to be discussing issues specifically to help the American people, and that would not include illegal aliens," Wilson said. "People who have come to our country and violated laws, we should not be providing full health-care services."

"Despite many claims to the contrary by opponents of the universal health care proposals, fact-checkers have repeatedly established that the bills' universal coverage provisions would not extend to illegal immigrants. In Section 246 on page 143, the House's bill states that "undocumented aliens" will not be eligible for credits to help them buy health insurance -- and these credits are the provision that lies at the heart of expanding coverage to the uninsured. And Medicaid already is limited to those who can prove legal residency. For that matter, even the universal health care program in Massachusetts -- one of the most liberal states in the country -- does not cover illegal immigrants."

But why shouldn't it cover them? How can anybody deny health care to anyone else on the basis that the sick person lacks proper papers? Or that the sick person committed a misdemeanor by crossing the border without papers? Or that the sick person is a child of those who lack papers?

Yes, the health care reform bill should extend full benefits to immigrants, whether they are "legal" or not, whether they have proper documents or not.

STOP WHOLESALE DEPORTATION OF LATINOS WITHOUT DOCUMENTS

Julie Myers as head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) needs to back off on her quest to deport Mexican and Latino undocumented immigrants. Myers is the niece of Gen. Myers, former head of the Joint Chiefs. Julia Preston reports in today's The New York Times that Myers is aiming to deport some 200,000 undocumenteds for year 2008.

In contrast to mean Ms. Myers, I believe everyone has a right to go anywhere and cross any border in his/her desire to put bread on the table. Therefore, I want open borders, the end of ICE, the removal of the hated fences and walls along the U.S.-Mexican frontier and, above all, respect for our Latin American neighbors who immigrate to the United States.

TANCREDO, FULL OF VENOM FOR IMMIGRANTS, QUITS THE RACE AND GIVES SUPPORT TO MITT ROMNEY

There's good news about Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. He has decided to quit trying to secure the Republican presidential nomination. Tancredo never had a chance. But at least we won't need to endure more racial and ethnic hatred spewing forth from his mouth.

Tancredo is throwing his support to Mitt Romney, another immigrant basher. Chris Cillizza blogs for The Washington Post:

"Tancredo's biggest impact on the field came as he bowed out of a contest that he never had any real chance of winning. Tancredo had made tough stand on immigration the centerpiece and organizing principle of his campaign, and his endorsement of Romney could prove a powerful validator of the former governor's bona fides on the issue."

Tancredo had but one issue - animus towards foreign-speaking immigrants of any sort. He would send them all back in the interests of maintaining a pure and anglicized culture in the U.S.

Tancredo seems to have forgotten the origins of his last name. His parents or grandparents were no doubt immigrants from Italy. As a kid, he surely must have felt sting from the anti-Italian sentiments among the Irish and the Wasps and all the others. I wonder if he ever heard other kids call Italians racial or ethnic slur names.

You would think, given his background, Tancredo, of all people, would be the most sympathetic to the ordeals and hardships faced by immigrants, especially Spanish-speaking Mexicans, when they try to make a living for their families here in the U.S. After all, his Italian forebears had to put up with the same antipathies, maybe even worse, now confronting Latinos and other non-English speaking immigrants arriving in America.

Fortunately, most Americans remember their immigrant roots and are more tolerant and sympathetic to the new arrivals than a Tom Tancredo or a Lou Dobbs. Because we are losing a voice exacerbating racial and ethnic conflict, I am happy Tancredo has dropped out.