One year ago, thousands of illegal alien children flooded the southern border, creating an acute political crisis for President Barack Obama, and a humanitarian crisis for border states. Now, Democrats in California have struck a new budget deal that will cover the health care of hundreds of thousands of illegal alien children in California, costing $130 million per year.
Southern California Public Radio reports that the deal, forged by State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), expands the state’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. Lara argues that the deal will save the state money by encouraging illegal aliens to use regular medical services instead of hospital emergency rooms, and will transform the lives of the “undocumented.”
Critics argue the new bill creates an incentive for more illegal immigration. Under California’s Proposition 187, which was passed in 1994 but later struck down, illegal aliens were ineligible for public services in the state. Lara is also proposing separate legislation that would seek a federal waiver to allow illegal aliens to purchase health care through Obamacare.
In 2009, advocates of Obamacare promised that the legislation would not cover illegal immigrants–a promise that critics doubted. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) infamously shouted “You lie!” when President Obama repeated the pledge in front of a special joint session of Congress that fall. Wilson regretted the outburst, but subsequent events have proved him correct.