illegal immigrant

We reported in July that Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Obama had initiated an audit of employers with illegal immigrant employees in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Antonio and New York.

Now, a major janitorial services firm owned by local conservative talk radio host Peter Weissbach has fired about 100 janitors suspected of being illegal.  The Seattle Times reports that Seattle Building Maintenance will continue to let go workers in waves so managers can hire replacements.

At first, the Obama Administration's approach was heralded by immigrant advocates as more humane, since it keeps enough of a buffer between immigration agents and illegal immigrants so the former don't deport the latter wholesale.

Conservative Law Professor Kris Kobach has also focused on making it more difficult for employers to hire and employ illegals.  The federal strategy also  includes roping in local law enforcement to identify illegal immigrants with criminal histories in preparation for deportation.

The government's more targeted, two-pronged approach is aimed at chipping away at the illegal immigration population by reducing the supply of jobs that draws people to this country illegally and speeding up deportation proceedings by focusing them on criminals.

U.S. treatment of illegal immigrant once they have been detained has been criticized as inhumane due to the dirty, overcrowded private contractor facilities for housing those detainees.

Paul Harasim of The Las Vegas Review-Journal spotlighted how a beleaguered University Medical Center is providing more than $20 million in repeated dialysis to a group of illegal immigrants.

Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak responded by saying foreign nationals should be sent home -- but with their consent, unlike the practices of some Floridian and Texan hospitals.

The hospital is projecting a $70 million budget gap, compared with the $24 million annual cost of treating these patients, which is not reimbursed. 

Mexican officials say they want to bring their people home to take care of them -- but their health may far much worse once they cross the border.

It is a classic immigration conundrum:

Is U.S. citizenship the only thing that would confer legitimacy to these people's health treatments at Las Vegas' only publicly supported hospital? 

What about a decade of hard work in the surrounding area?  Does that mean the kidneys of these 80 illegal immigrants should not be allowed to fail? 

Does the U.S. have an obligation to care for all the people who power its economy? 

Can doctors fulfill their Hippocratic Oath while denying care based on whether their hospital will be reimbursed?  Who should they save first?