More than 100 Thousand Patients Identified as Illegal Migrants in Texas Hospital Visits

More than 100 Thousand Patients Identified as Illegal Migrants in Texas Hospital Visits​

More than 100,000 patients who visited hospitals in Texas between last November and February of this year admitted they were illegal migrants, according to state data.


The data was gathered after Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law last year requiring hospitals to ask registering patients if they are a legal U.S. resident.
According to KXAN-TV, by the end of February, 108,581 patients admitted to being illegal aliens — about 2.3 percent of all patients.
This number, though, is obviously not complete. The law does not require patients to answer the question, and 12.9 percent — or 617,000 patients — refused to answer. Government officials feel that most of that number are also illegals who simply refused to reveal their citizenship status to hospital registrars.
Another factor that makes the data set incomplete is the 140 hospitals that have still not fulfilled their reporting duties as set by the new law. The HHSC notes that 22.9 percent of the state’s hospitals are not in compliance and are still not properly reporting their data.