• Senate hearing focuses on money and emergency care of undocumented Oklahomans

By Melissa A. Wabnitz

Transcript Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY— First generation Americans, and the state and federal funds it takes to ensure their safe delivery into the world, were the focus of much discussion at the Oklahoma State Capitol Monday.

Chaired by Sen. Daisy Lawler, D-Comanche, of the Senate task force on illegal immigration issues, the hearing was the first of three scheduled discussing the ongoing statewide controversy — illegal immigration.

“In terms of actual dollars, actual costs, we’re not talking about much. What bothers me is the well-being of these children,” said Howard Hendrick, of the Oklahoma State Department of Human Services. Children born in Oklahoma are American by virtue of their birthplace, Hendrick said, whether or not their parents are documented.

“Those children are probably at a higher risk of parental abandonment than other children… Our families generally are in trouble, over all, and these children are in even greater trouble,” Hendrick said. “If you’re a parent of a child, and you’re concerned about being deported, you probably create that same kind of anxiety in those children.”

In the 2005 fiscal year, Medicaid paid for the labor and deliveries of an estimated 2,623 Oklahoma women, totaling $6.5 million, said Nico Gomez, of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. Of the services available to Oklahomans, Medicaid, or emergency health care, including labor and delivery services, is the only state-funded service available to illegal immigrants, Hendrick and Gomez said, a statement disputed by Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore.

Terrill said because the “anchor babies,” or the American children of undocumented immigrants, are not tracked as illegals, DHS and other state entities aren’t adequately tracking the full impact of immigration on the state’s coffers. Indirectly, Terrill said, the state is paying for child care subsidies to illegal immigrants.

A federal law signed into practice July 12 requires that persons applying for Medicaid must prove their citizenship, exempting seniors or those with disabilities who previously met certain documentation requirements, said Hendrick. In addition to traditional means, such as providing a passport, birth certificate or adoption decree, applicants may submit written affidavits by two individuals who can attest to their citizenship. The new requirements, he said, should provide an even greater means of verifying eligibility.

“The short answer, really, to participation in public assistance is that they (undocumented individuals) are not eligible,” Hendrick said. “We generally believe they are not participating. Among those persons who are receiving child care subsidies, food stamps, or are receiving TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), 99.2 percent of those recipients are either citizens or qualified aliens.”

Statewide, only 8/100th of one percent of those receiving services are illegal, Hendrick said, noting “virtually all of these people would be engaging in, basically, identity theft.”

Sen. Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah, said he “wasn’t convinced there’s a real problem here.”

“What we’re talking about today is the cost side of things,” Wilson said. “And with the cost side, quite frankly, nothing seems significant. We spend $10 million a year executing people. So the amount that the health care authority spends is not that much… As a society, if we’re going to buy cheap labor, then we’re not going to allow them to deliver their babies in parking lots.”

Melissa A. Wabnitz