[BretLudwig]

€œPenis Amputation€�€”The Ultimate Immigration Enthusiast Argument

By Joe Guzzardi

"When the other side uses the €œpenis amputation€� argument against
immigration reform patriots, we can safely say that theyve pulled out
all the stops.

And thats exactly what 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley did in his
May 11th segment €œIllegal Immigrants Dont Survive Detention in
America€�.

Pelley was subtler than to overtly advocate for immigrants or for more
immigration. And, of course, he didnt suggest that all detained
immigrants are subject to having their genitals removed as a direct result
of negligent medical treatment.

But the gist of Pelleys story, once again paints the U.S. as the bad
guys€”cold, insensitive and inept€” in the immigration crisis.

Pelley has been joined by a Washington Post investigation by Post
reporters Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein . All allege that
€œimmigrants€�€”as they refer to them€”detained by Immigration and
Customs Service and housed by the Department of Immigration Health
Services are the victims of such shoddy, slipshod health care that many
have died as a result.

Read Priests and Goldsteins series of Post stories, each following
the tried and true sob story formula outlined by VDARE.COMs Brenda
Walker, here. See its estimate of €œquestionable deaths€� from March
2003 to March 2008 here.

In one egregious case, Salvadoran illegal alien and convicted drug dealer
Francisco Castaneda died from cancer, untreated during his detention,
shortly after having his penis amputated by a private, outside physician.

Interspersed throughout Pelleys segment are videotapes of weeping
relatives.

Also included are two cutaways to a video of Castaneda on his deathbed.

CBSs weekly news magazine 60 Minutes has been a frequent target of
VDARE.COMs for its failure to report fairly on both sides of its
immigration related pieces.

This is disappointing because, once upon a time, 60 Minutes did a pretty
good job.

Fifteen years ago, correspondent Leslie Stahl exposed the H-1B visa
racquet in tones that should have€”but did not€” set off alarm bells
throughout Congress. My column about it is here; the complete transcript
here.

Stahl actually mocked the idea that anyone in the U.S. on six-year H1-B
visa could be called, as Silicon Valley executives did, a €œtemporary
worker€�.

Another CBS correspondent, Morley Safer, did a segment several years ago
about how the arrival of thousands of Hmongs in Wausau, WI had jolted the
towns ethnic balance, brought gang violence, and created a layer of
poor, welfare dependent people previously unknown in the small town.

Safer based his report on a 1994 Atlantic Monthly article titled The
Ordeal of Immigration in Wausau and written by Roy Beck, NumbersUSA
executive director.

But that was then and this is now.

Now 60 Minutes has fallen victim to acute political correctness in its
immigration coverage. And in so doing, it suppresses significant facts
that its viewers are entitled to.

During his piece, Pelley referenced four cases, all having different
circumstances but all including the common denominator that the main
characters were detained by ICE and spent time under DHIS medical
care€¦although €œcare€� is not how CBS describes it.

In fact, €œtreated like an animal€� was what I heard.

Three detainees (Castaneda, Juan Guevara and Haitian Joseph Dantica) died;
the third (Somali Amina Mudey) received, according to her lawyer Ann
Schofield Baker (e-mail), horribly inadequate care.

Looking at the three most detailed cases, they a
bullet First, Reverend Joseph Dantica, a Baptist minister who in 2004 fled
Haiti for Miami.

Immediately upon his arrival in New York Dantica, 81, applied for
political asylum.

During his asylum hearing, according to Pelley, Dantica became
€œviolently ill€� and collapsed. According to CBSs version, a DIHS
physicians assistant €œfailed to recognize that Dantica was in serious
trouble€�.

Dantica died within a day and a half.

Pelley, for dramatic effect, asked Danticas niece Edwidge Danticat
(€œa prize winning author€�) to €œhelp him understand€� what the
medical assistants evaluation was.

With the camera focused close up on her tear-filled eyes, Danticat said:
€œIt appeared that he said, 'I, you know, he's -- I think he's faking.'
Or something to that effect.€� (emphasis added.)

Pelley: €œThe medical examiner said it was pancreatitis.€�

Danticats comments fall far short of an overwhelming indictment. Taken
at face value, theyre pretty lame: €œIt appeared€¦something to that
effect€¦.€�

What CBS omitted:
bullet If Dantica, 81-years-old, was stricken with pancreatitis€”and CBS
offers no evidence that he was misdiagnosed€”then malpractice did not
lead to his death. Medical experts consider pancreatitis to be as
life-threatening as a massive heart attack or many forms of cancer.

bullet Dantica entered the U.S. under false pretenses. He most certainly
arrived from Haiti via a tourist visa but with the express intent of
claiming asylum. Note that he filed only days after landing. And Dantica
also likely withheld the information that his niece lives in Miami, thus
making it much easier for him to overstay.

Lying or misrepresenting facts to a consular official to obtain a visa is
not a crime, although it €œshould be€� according to what David Seminara
told me. (Seminara is the author of the Center for Immigration Studies
backgrounder €œNo Coyote Needed: U.S. Visas Still an Easy Ticket in
Developing Countries€�)
bullet Second, Mudey, a Somali who upon her 2004 arrival in the U.S.
immediately requested political asylum. Mudley is now €œstudying
computers and English€�€¦but I note that four years later she still
needs a translator.

Mudeys lawyer, Schofield Baker, admitted that at the time of her
detention her client €œ€¦ was disoriented€¦petrified€¦€� and
€œ€¦collapsed and had a panic attack.€� (In another CBS interview,
Schofield Baker presents her side of Mudeys case. Watch it here.)

DIHS, concluding that Mudey was psychotic, prescribed Risperdal.

In her statement, Schofield Baker said that the: €œMedical treatment that
Amina received was absolutely deplorable, substandard, sanctionable and
flat-out malpractice.€�

But even Pelley didnt bite on that one as he quickly noted that
Schofield Bakers charge is an €œalleged misdiagnosis.€�

Omitted:
bullet That Mudeys symptoms€”disorientation and panic attacks€”are
consistent with psychotic behavior and prescribing Risperdal is not
unusual.

bullet Plus, of course, any discussion of the improbable circumstances
surrounding Mudeys arrival in America.

Since the U.S. does not maintain an operational embassy and consular
section in Somalia, that creates the possibility that Mudey filed for her
visa in a neighboring country. Mudey may have misrepresented herself and
the facts of her case either in Africa, here upon her arrival or in both
places.

Like Dantica, Mudey who €œimmediately requested political asylum,€� had
no intention of going home.
bullet Third, Castanedas case wherein, according to Pelley, DIHS
recently admitted in a federal court to medical negligence.

Here are the details.

While detained, Castanedas physicians assistant recommended that a
urologist be called in to perform a biopsy to check for cancer. Those
requests were denied. Finally, when Castaneda was released several months
later, he sought treatment on his own.

But to no avail€”Castanedas cancer had spread and his genital
amputation did not save his life.

What CBS, the Post reporters and the immigration lawyers
conclude€”pointing to Dantica, Mudey and Castaneda as examples€”is that
DIHS is a snake pit of inefficient doctors and medical assistants,
understaffed by half and incapable of providing decent care to anyone in
their charge.

€œImmigrants€�, the suggestion goes, are made vulnerable simply because
they are immigrants.

Buried at the storys end, after the alarming €œpenis amputation€�
reference and videotaped statements of sobbing relatives, are these two
defenses offered by ICE and DIHS.

Please note that neither CBS nor the interviewed lawyers challenged the
facts presented in either response.
bullet A letter from ICE that states: "The number of deaths per 100,000 is
dramatically lower for ICE detainees than for US prison and jail
populations. The nation as a whole is experiencing severe shortages in
qualified health professionals."

bullet A Congressional statement by Gary Mead, a senior immigration
official, that:

€œICE provides for and that DIHS completed over 500,000 medical visits
for the detainees in our custody. Many of our detainees receive almost
daily attention, so it's an aggressive program, and we do everything
possible to maintain the best quality of life for the detainees in our
custody.

What CBS did not include was this portion of another statement issued by
ICE in response to questions regarding detainee deaths:

€œWhen a detainee is hospitalized, the hospital assumes medical
decision-making authority, including the patient's drug regimen, lab
tests, X-rays and treatments. If a detainee passes away while in ICE
custody, it is our policy to immediately notify the next of kin or the
consulate of the respective country. In addition, ICE's Office of
Professional Responsibility reviews the circumstances surrounding the
death of a detainee and determines if further investigation is warranted.

The Office of Professional Responsibility also informs the inspector
general of Homeland Security of all detainee deaths, regardless of reason.
The Office of Professional Responsibility determines whether the death
necessitates investigation and coordinates appropriately with the
inspector general. ICE also must notify state officials (coroner, for
example).€�

And Pelley added reluctantly: €œIn the case of Reverend Dantica, a
government inspector general's report said that there was €˜no evidence
of mistreatment or malfeasance€�

In his conclusion, Pelley (perhaps thinking of us), said to Castanedas
lawyer, Conal Doyle (e-mail him):

€œYou know that there are people watching this interview who are saying
to themselves, 'Castaneda was an illegal immigrant. He had a drug
conviction. The people of the United States owed him nothing.€�

Readers will have a variety of thoughts about what our obligations are.
Ill leave you to your conscience (and common sense).

But no matter whether in the end you favor paying for Castanedas
treatment or not, you dont need to apologize to Pelley or anyone else
for having doubts as to whether American generosity should extend to an
illegal alien and convicted drug dealer.

Naturally, CBS and the Post reach all the wrong conclusions.

If they had their way, the U.S would build more facilities (state of the
art, of course), hire more doctors and nurses and give more comprehensive
and unlimited care.

If they could figure out some way to make it freer, then they would
endorse that idea, too.

But the real solution is so obvious its amazing that even the strongest
pro-immigration advocates wont own up to it.

What we need is fewer visas, stricter policies on asylum and refugee
claims fewer loopholes, stronger laws, and more enforcement.

Try that for a change. And watch the problems go away.

Ill close with two thoughts, one serious, and the other one less so.

First, €œpenis€� is a favorite word of lawyers, daytime television hosts
or anyone else, like Pelley, looking for shock value. For reasons not
entirely clear to me, it generates a more dramatic effect than the
comparatively boring and more clinical €œgenitals€�.

For sure Pelley, wanting to heighten the impact of his story, made a
conscious decision to use the €œp€� word instead of any other.

Second, and my more important point, the random quality of health care is
not limited to detained immigrants.

I myself was a victimized by poor medical judgment.

Although my illness of a year ago was correctly diagnosed as
pancreatitis€”and believe me, its a killer€”the treatment I
originally received was inadequate.

As a consequence, my condition rapidly deteriorated. Luckily, it was
caught in time but not before I underwent several major surgeries.

Im offended then when I watch a finger-pointing show like 60 Minutes
with its thinly-veiled implication that immigrants are purposely denied
good medical care.

After this stinker, CBS owes us a story told in the style it used back
when.

Heres a good topic that CBS did the research on when it put together
last weeks show: How providing health care to illegal aliens has driven
many border hospitals to close and made insurance premiums unaffordable for
middle class Americans.

As my doctor told me: €œYou pay more because they pay nothing.€�

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