Press Release

For Immediate Release, August 18, 2004
Contact: Lorraine Quiroga, 202-833-6130

Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) strongly opposes a plan that would require hospitals to collect immigrant information from its patients that could possibly lead to deportation. 

Last year, the Medicare Modernization Act was passed and currently there are pending regulations that could cause devastating results.  The Act offers desperately needed fiscal relief in the form of $1 billion over four years.  Proposed regulations state that in order to be eligible for the funds hospitals would be required to collect immigration information from its patients.  As a result this plan would compel doctors to conduct racial profiling on their patients.   

LULAC acknowledges that hospitals are overburdened with costs and that states are in deficit, however, this plan does not offer a reasonable solution.  While this proposed rule would provide immediate fiscal relief for hospitals the downside is that in the long run it would prove to be more costly to society as a whole.  Because the proposal would undoubtedly frighten many undocumented immigrants from coming forward to obtain necessary treatment, the chances of infectious diseases spreading in our society will increase.   

“With contagious diseases and illnesses such as tuberculosis being major concerns in our communities the last thing we need to do is turn away people who need treatment,” said LULAC National President Hector Flores. “Leaving such persons untreated means that inevitably we will all suffer the consequences.  We should not ask our doctors to act as immigration agents.  Doctors take an oath to serve all of the sick in our societies, and therefore it is a contradiction for them to participate in racial profiling as well,” added Flores.    

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States.  LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

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