President Obama who called the proposed bill "irresponsible." (courtesy of Creative Commons)

Republican lawmakers are pushing to expand Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration by forcing hospitals to check a patient's citizenship before administering medical services.

The bill, known as Senate Bill 1405, would force hospitals to check if a patient is a legal resident before admitting them for non-emergency care. Emergency care would still be provided for illegal immigrants, but hospitals would have to report them after their care was over.

Under the new bill, hospitals would have to notify federal immigration officers if illegal immigrants come in for care. Hospitals would be open to being sued if they do no abide by the law.

Some consider the proposed law as an indirect method to enlist medical facilities as immigration agents.

“This is making us into a police state that will try to catch people when they are sick,” said Dr. George Pauk, a retired physician with an organization called Physicians for a National Health Program to the Washington Times. “Do we want to stop sick people from coming in for health care?”

Proponents of the bill believe that the measure would prevent sick people from coming in to the U.S. illegally for help for fear of being deported.

Just days earlier, an illegal immigrant in Texas said she was turned away from a hospital because of her immigration status, according to the Houston Chronicle. Doctors feel that if this bill passes, more people will not receive the care they need and individuals with infectious disease may spread viruses and cause illnesses that are otherwise preventable.

Opponents of the bill say that in addition to posing health risks, the bill will increase hospitals’ workload.

“You are now turning medical professionals into full-time INS agents,” Democratic state Sen. Steve Gallardo told the Washington Times. “Doctors that should be working to help treat ill patients are now turning into ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents.”

Debates about illegal immigrants in Arizona increased a year ago when a bill was passed that required local police to questions the immigration status of people they apprehended. A judge later put this provision on hold.

Supporters of the current bill say it “is necessary tool to fight illegal immigration at a time when hospitals lose tens of millions of dollars treating illegal immigrants in emergency rooms,” according to the Washington Times.

People in the medical industry protested the bill and discussion of the bill in the committee was put on hold.

President Barak Obama called this new bill “irresponsible” and said it “threatens to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans,” according to the Daily Mail.

Another bill is being proposed by Senator Pearce that denies citizenship to children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants, which led to protests outside the Senate building, according to Daily Mail.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says no other states are known to be considering similar bills, according to MSNBC.

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