Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order GA-46 on Aug. 8, requiring hospitals to collect the immigration status of all patients. In addition, Senate Bill 4, which is currently pending in court, would allow police to question and arrest anyone they speculate is undocumented.
GA-46, meant to analyze the costs Texas incurs when treating undocumented residents, has troubling implications for UT’s undocumented immigrant population.
Even though immigration status should not impact treatment, patients may be unaware of their rights and believe they will be prosecuted or refused care based on their citizenship status. Patients are not required to disclose their immigration status and can utilize the Fifth Amendment, but a non-answer could still be grounds for arrest if this bill is passed.
However, if enough people decline to answer, the legislature will be unable to discern how many patients are undocumented and how many are citizens. In order to support the undocumented community at UT, all students should decline to answer, regardless of status. Additionally, students can help their peers by writing letters to their local representatives protesting the bill.
“The best way to make sure (the Texas legislature doesn’t) get any data is that they don’t get to collect any,” said Erin O’Malley, senior policy analyst for the Every Texan health and food justice team. “With the right type of concerted effort, it’s very possible to (ensure) they don’t get any good information because no one’s answering the questions.”
The data collected on costs of treatment for undocumented patients becomes skewed when patients decline to disclose their immigration status. According to Lynn Cowles, health and food justice programs manager at Every Texan, if all patients, including American-born citizens, refuse to answer, Senate Bill Four would not give law enforcement grounds to arrest anyone. Additionally, refusing to share this information should not affect the care they receive.
This policy will require hospitals to collect and report immigration data to the state, which could put additional strain on Texas’ already severely depleted hospital workers and further decrease Texans’ trust in their healthcare system.
“This order does continually diminish trust in … the institutions, like hospitals, that are supposed to be the last stop for people to get care,” Cowles said.
Ultimately, this order heightens the anti-immigrant sentiment that already runs rampant within the Texas legislature. Students who are undocumented or have undocumented family members are an important part of the UT community and have a right to the same treatment their peers are afforded.
“Hospitals are meant to be a place where we’re serving the community, where we’re protecting our community and helping people,” said Sarah Cruz, a policy and advocacy strategist for the Texas ACLU. “Providing access to care, or even receiving care, should not be contingent on immigration status. You shouldn’t have to feel that sort of hostility in a place or a situation where you should be receiving life-saving care or just basic access to services overall.”
Abbott’s executive order politicizes the health and safety of Texas residents. Hospitals should be places of healing, not fear. In order to address the impacts of this order on the undocumented community, UT students must help support their fellow immigrant community members. UT students’ collective advocacy can help minimize the harmful impact of GA-46 on the immigrant community.
Saunders is a journalism and government sophomore from Wheaton, Illinois.
