Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order requiring the state’s public hospitals to collect data on their patients’ immigration status and report it to the state government.
The executive order, GA 46, issued Thursday, directs the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect information on illegal immigrants using public hospitals for inpatient and emergency care and to report health care costs so the state can track how much money has been spent on medical treatment for illegal immigrants and send the bill to the Biden administration, which the governor blames for the influx of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. through the southern border.
“Due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open borders policies, Texas has had to bear the cost of providing health care to illegal immigrants,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas should not have to bear the burden of financially supporting the health care of illegal immigrants.”
“That’s why I issued an executive order requiring the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect and report the cost of health care for illegal immigrants in our state,” he continued. “Texas will hold the Biden-Harris administration accountable for the consequences of their open borders policies, and we will fight to make them pay Texas back for their costly and dangerous policies.”
Republican states sue to stop Biden administration from extending Obamacare to illegal immigrants
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order requiring public hospitals in the state to collect data on the immigration status of their patients. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The new regulation comes into force on 1 November.
Hospitals must report data quarterly, with the first filings due March 1. Beginning January 1, 2026, annual reports on the previous year’s costs of providing medical care to illegal immigrants must be submitted to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House of Representatives of each state.
The order also states that hospitals are required to inform patients that their answers to questions about immigration status will not affect medical care under federal law.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) criticizes the decree as “political rhetoric.”
“It’s pretty vague. It’s like, ‘Hey, let’s just get the data.’ Well, what do you do with the data?” Gabriel Rosales, LULAC’s Texas state director, told Fox 26.
DENVER POLICE OFFICERS FIRED FOR DISTURBING TEXT MESSAGES ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: “TARGET EXERCISE”
The order states that hospitals are required to inform patients that their answers to questions about immigration status will not affect medical care under federal law. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
LULAC stressed that the executive order could prevent some immigrants from receiving the medical care they need.
“This just creates unnecessary fear,” Rosales said. “They need to create a path to citizenship.”
This comes as politicians in Texas and elsewhere are calling on the Biden administration to do more to address the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Undocumented immigrants contribute $26.2 billion to our country nationwide,” Sergio Lira, president of Greater Houston LULAC, told Fox 26. “$2.6 billion in state and local taxes.”
Lira also said the federal government “subsidizes and supplements much of the medical costs at the local and national levels.”
