(Breitbart) – The Obama
administration has been helping to facilitate a series of events nationwide at
Mexican Consulate offices to enroll people in Obamacare – and a key activist
says the efforts are “our responsibility” regardless of citizenship.
“Whether they’re Mexican nationals
or whether they’re United States citizens or whether they’re in transition– and
if they’re there it is our responsibility within all of America to educate on
the Affordable Care Act,” Enroll America Field Organizer Jose Medrano told Breitbart
News on Wednesday.
Health Care insurance navigator
groups hosted an Obamacare enrollment fair on Tuesday in the Mexican
Consulate’s Brownsville office, The Rio Grande Guardian reported
last Friday, where Mexican nationals among others were counseled about
enrolling in the ACA.
“The Mexican consulate is a very reliable
source of information to the Latino community. And therefore when they host
their events, yesterday being the health fair, there are several hundred people
that show up,” Medrano said.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
undocumented immigrants aren’t supposed to be receiving government-run health
benefits or subsidized coverage. However, President Barack Obama told Latinos
in early March that the Healthcare.gov website would not be used to find out
about an individual’s immigration status.
“None of the information that is
provided in order for you to obtain health insurance is in any way transferred
to immigration services,” he said.
According to Medrano, 101 families
were represented at the ACA enrollment and education fair at the Brownsville
Mexican Consulate on Tuesday and about 60 percent of them spoke to a health
care counselor. Medrano says that the consulate’s office is helpful “as part of
the transition” to “mainstream… America.”
This is not the first time the
Mexican Consulate has been used to enroll individuals into Obamacare. Get
Covered Illinois announced in late February that the Erie Family
Health Center hoped to increase its enrollment numbers at the Mexican Consulate
in Chicago, The Sun Times reported.According to Vegas Seven, in Nevada, the Latino community is being targeted for ACA enrollment at the Mexican Consulate in downtown Las Vegas. Insurance News says Hispanic National Advocacy groups like National Alliance for Hispanic Health have helped lead the push to get more Latinos enrolled in Obamacare.
“Promoting Obamacare at a Mexican consulate raises three major policy concerns,” Stephen Miller, a spokesman for top immigration hawk Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) told Breitbart News.
“One, the possibility that illegal immigrants could fraudulently access federal subsidies; two, that such promotions provide a financial inducement to unlawfully enter the U.S. (or overstay a visa) by offering households headed by illegal immigrants federal subsidies through their legal relatives or dependents; and three, that these activities widen an existing flaw in our legal admissions process by continuing to subvert the principle that those seeking to lawfully enter the US should be financially self-sufficient,” Miller said.
Mexican Consulates have been used previously to advance USDA assistance programs like food stamps to Mexican nationals, The Daily Caller reported in July of 2012. Mexico promoted the program to 50 of its consular offices in the U.S.
In 2012, ranking members of the
Senate Budget, Finance, Judiciary, and Agriculture Committees wrote an
oversight letter to Secretaries Napolitano and Clinton that said in part:
The [Immigration and Nationality
Act] specifically states: ‘An alien who… is likely at any time to become a
public charge is inadmissible.’ … We were thus shocked to discover that both
the State Department and DHS exclude reliance on almost all governmental
welfare programs when evaluating whether an alien is likely to become a public
charge… Under your interpretation, an able-bodied immigrant of working age
could receive the bulk of his or her income in the form of federal welfare and
still not be deemed a ‘public charge.’”
Medrano, however, said the Mexican
Consulate is a trusted source of information for Latinos, who use “those who
they relied on for good information” in the past.
“So many of these, of course, while
they are U.S. citizens have very strong ties to the consulate in terms of news
and information and events and things like that,” he said.He added, “And also, it was a health fair. The Mexican consulate was providing a community health fair and as part of that, they asked us to come in, because that was the tie in.”
Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius has been taking time out of her schedule to push for more ACA
enrollment within the Lone Star state. She has made at least four visits to
Texas for ACA outreach and enrollment and education related events since
December 20, 2013.
“I’m sure [she was aware],” Medrano
said when asked if Sebelius knew about the event at the Mexican Consulate. “We
put our events in a database that several organizations are connected to at
mainly HHS, so they are fully aware of who was here.”Medrano says that Sebelius has not visited South Texas yet but Obama Small Business Administrator Yolanda Garcia Olivarez did make an appearance at the consulate during the fair and “met with the consul so it was an event that was driven by that presence as well.” Olivarez also made a visit that day to the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce to promote SBA programs.
Olivares told Brownsville’s Action 4
News, “If they don’t meet the deadline they’ve lost the opportunity to have and
to have coverage of affordable health care.”
The fair was one of two events (the
other was at the McAllen Convention Center) where ACA navigators are scouring
the Rio Grande Valley to enroll Latino individuals into the government health
care program.http://www.teaparty.org/obamacare-navigators-seeking-enrollees-mexico-37868/
- See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/obamacare-navigators-seeking-enrollees-mexico-37868/#sthash.Ow7IUxTY.dpuf
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