The New York Times on Sunday reported that some hospitals have taken it upon themselves to repatriate uninsured patients who are not U.S. citizens - many times, it seems, while the patient is incapacitated and has no idea what is going on.

Many American hospitals are taking it upon themselves to repatriate seriously injured or ill immigrants because they cannot find nursing homes willing to accept them without insurance. Medicaid does not cover long-term care for illegal immigrants, or for newly arrived legal immigrants, creating a quandary for hospitals, which are obligated by federal regulation to arrange post-hospital care for patients who need it.

 

American immigration authorities play no role in these private repatriations, carried out by ambulance, air ambulance and commercial plane. Most hospitals say that they do not conduct cross-border transfers until patients are medically stable and that they arrange to deliver them into a physician’s care in their homeland. But the hospitals are operating in a void, without governmental assistance or oversight, leaving ample room for legal and ethical transgressions on both sides of the border.

Today, the Chicago Tribune covers the increase in the U.S. government's use of stipulated orders of removal as a "fast-track" method of deportation. More than 80,000 immigrants have signed stipulated orders since 2004. By signing these orders, immigrants waive their right to see a judge and agree to be deported.

In June, the National Immigrant Justice Center reported that more than 90 percent of the individuals who have signed these orders do not speak English, and more than 80 percent had no criminal history.

The Chicago Tribune article highlights NIJC lawyers' and other legal advocates' concerns that immigrants are often pressured to sign the deportation orders without fully underestanding their consequences, and tells the story of two men who were asked to sign stipulated orders. One understood the form well enough to consult a lawyer, who advising the man not to sign the order and helped him find a way to stay in the United States legally. The other man has suffered a worse fate:

Roberto Mazariegos was arrested after living illegally in the United States for years. But he had no access to a lawyer and signed the deportation order.

"It was in English and I didn't understand it," said Mazariegos, 29, who was deported to his native Guatemala in April. He left behind his fiance, who is a legal permanent resident, and their 16-month-old daughter.

These practices of deporting immigrants without a day in court, or even without their full understanding of what is happening, violate basic principles of justice. The right to go to court to defend ourselves when charged with violating a law is a basic right for everyone in the United States - if it can be taken away based on health status or language abilities than all Americans should be concerned.