The NBC medical drama New Amsterdam dove headfirst into woke waters Tuesday featuring a transgender illegal alien being hounded by immigration officers for deportation despite a life-threatening illness.
During its November 16 episode, “In a Strange Land,” the show — which has been soaked in navel-gazing virtue porn since its inception — revisited a theme from a few years ago in an episode where immigration agents were portrayed as heartless automatons who would deport people even in the midst of medical emergencies. But this time, the series upped the ante with a transgender illegal alien with cancer who was in fear of being snapped up by ICE and deported — a facepalm-worthy indulgence first highlighted by Newsbusters.
Trans character Temi, played by transgender actor and trans activist Rizi Timane, is portrayed as a woman from Nigeria who is hiding in a U.S. church to avoid the constant threat of being nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
After a fire breaks out at the church sending many of the illegals hiding there to the New Amsterdam hospital in New York City, Temi is found with shortness of breath. Hospital medical staff soon find that the illegal alien binds her chest in very tight bandages and identifies as a man. But coupled with smoke inhalation, the tight bandages are preventing full airflow, and Temi is told to remove the binding.
Transgender nurse Kai Brunstetter (Em Grosland) — who also identifies as a man — eventually convinces Temi to remove the bandages by commiserating about their gnostic struggles but insisting that a mammogram is needed to determine what is wrong.
“I can tell you from personal experience that getting a mammogram sucks,” nurse Brinstetter tells the patient. “It’s like stepping back into a body that isn’t mine. Does that sound familiar? So, for people like us, trans men, it’s tempting to ignore cancer screenings and walk away from God-awful machines like this one.”
The medical team soon discovers that Temi has breast cancer. The patient rejoices that a double mastectomy may make her feel more like a man, but the issue is soon complicated by the discovery that the cancer has spread, meaning Temi will have to visit the hospital repeatedly for treatment.
Temi bemoans that every option is a death sentence because coming back to the hospital offers an increased possibility of being caught by ICE. “Being deported will kill me. Going to detention will kill me. Every option is a death sentence,” the character says.
This is where the trashing of ICE steps into high gear. Temi becomes terrified that the predatory ICE agents will nab her during a trip to the hospital for treatment. And the episode reveals the other illegals being treated for the fire also fear the same thing.
ICE is portrayed as having stalked illegals going in and out of the church before the fire, and now that they are out of that sanctuary, they all fear being captured. The episode ends with the hospital’s staff manufacturing an elaborate ruse of a parade of ambulances taking off to transport the patients, but when ICE mounts a roadblock, the agents find all the vehicles empty. Viewers then discover that the doctors had secretly shipped the illegals in a bus to avoid the evil ICE officers.
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