Return of the Minutemen - to a hostile media! Fair warning: I'm going to press some buttons with this one. If you don't want to hear me ranting about our constitutional rights as citizens and how the disastrous restriction of them contributes to the bloated malaise our country's health-care system has become, stop reading now. If you're not deterred by this, then forge onward… You've all no doubt heard about the "Minuteman Project," that stalwart group of around 850 border-patrolling volunteers down in Arizona that are taking up binoculars and radios (but not arms - although they'd have every right to if the U.S. Constitution were still actually honored as law) to help stop illegal immigration along the U.S./Mexico border. The reason you've no doubt heard of these men is the merciless shellacking they've been taking in the media since they formed together. That's right - instead of portraying these dedicated patriots as the selfless protectors of the American way they are, they're painting them as out-of-control, paramilitary vigilante militiamen bent on hunting down desperate Mexicans who only want to enjoy the fruits of democracy our imperialistic consumerism denies them. To these out-of-touch, bleeding-heart "journalists," I say this: Even in the post-9/11 world, the U.S. is still the world's most permissive, liberal-minded, and accepting society toward the induction of foreigners. Just about anyone without an international criminal record can come to America. Is there any other nation in the world that can say this? However, there's a right way and a wrong way to immigrate to the United States. The right way is easy enough to do, and those who risk doing it the wrong way deserve what they get, in my opinion - be it arrest at the hands of the Border Patrol (unlikely), seizure by a band of rightful citizens, or starvation in the desert. If you ask me, the Minuteman Project is a group of conscientious people being good citizens by doing a job the government and its 11,000 Border Patrol employees have failed to do. And it's their right - some would argue their DUTY - to do it. Their stated goal is to show that an increased U.S. presence on the border would deter the nation's thousands-per-day flow of illegals from Mexico, plus reduce the likelihood that terrorists would cross over as well. It's working, too. According to a recent Washington Times article, apprehensions in the 23-mile area they're patrolling have dropped from 500 per day to less than 15 daily… What's all this have to do with health care? Keep reading… **************************************************** Is today's health care "bordering" on bankruptcy? As you know, I talk a lot about why health care costs so much today. Among the reasons I mention often are the upwardly spiraling costs of drugs (coupled with the fact that modern medicine is increasingly drug-centric), the interference of vulture-like insurance companies, and the out-of-control malpractice awards being doled out like candy by today's liberal courts… But one reason I rarely cite is this: The incredible burden put on our health care system, especially Medicare and Medicaid, by the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in this country - all of which are entitled to emergency and acute medical care by an act of Congress passed in 1986, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). Beyond this outrageous expense in the tremendous cost of delivering and caring for the 300,000 or more babies born to illegal mothers every year. These are children who are automatically citizens entitled to all publicly funded services the second they draw their first breath - a fact that's a major incentive for border-crossing. The cost of all this medical care is staggering: In sparsely populated Colorado, the state's Medicaid program paid out an estimated $30 million dollars in one recent calendar year for obstetric services alone to 6000 illegal alien mothers. In one Arizona county, 30% of the annual medical budget is spent caring for illegals under the EMTALA. In 2002, a Florida hospital association recorded over $40 million in medical services for illegal aliens. Here's a really scary one: Back in 1994, California spent $215 million for approximately 75,000 births to illegal mothers. Imagine what that number is today. I'll bet it's half a billion dollars, easily… This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks. Nationwide, the cost of caring for illegal immigrants and their children has to be $10 billion a year, or more. Don't misunderstand me: I'm not suggesting we should deny illegal immigrants emergency medical services. What I am saying is that none of this would be happening if our borders were secure. And whatever has to happen to "plug the leak" would reduce the cost of health care - not to mention taxes, education, law enforcement budgets, and everything else.
If that means we need to start volunteering for round-the-clock shifts at the border with radios, lights, binoculars, and even guns, I say it's high time. It's certainly our right to do so - no matter what the Newsweeks of the world say. William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
