[The Slim Reaper]

https://www.wonkette.com/trump-now-g...because-he-can

Trump Kicking Sick Kids Out Of America Now, So They Can Die Elsewhere!

The Trump administration's war on immigrants has reached yet another of its logical conclusions. Not satisfied with seeking to deport people to likely death after doing all it can to eliminate asylum for people fleeing war and gangs, the administration is now marking immigrants -- KIDS -- with grave medical conditions for removal from the USA, regardless of whether they can receive life-saving treatment in their home countries. That's what Make America Great Again means now: send people to die. This isn't metaphorical, or a mere possibility. Thousands of people who have been legally staying in the US because they're being treated for serious illnesses are now being told they must leave voluntarily in 33 days or face deportation. Many of them will die, because they can't get the care they need in their home countries. It's not murder, mind you, because they'll still be alive when they're put on the plane here. Besides, some will probably live, those are just the odds.

National Public Radio obtained a copy of a form letter being sent to thousands of people who are currently allowed to stay in the US under the "medical deferred action" program. As NPR explains, the program

allows people to remain in the U.S. for two-year periods if they can prove extreme medical need. Many of the people affected by the policy change came to the U.S. through a visa or other permitted status and are requesting to stay beyond those terms to receive medical treatment.

Because some idiot always starts screaming about "illegals," we should point out yet again that this is a legal immigration program and the people covered by it are here legally, making them legal to be here, legally. In case anyone's confused.

The letter is chillingly direct: No, sorry, we're ending the program that kept you alive. The letter categorically denies the request for medical deferred action, noting that such protections are only available to military families now, and advises the reader that without the deferral, they're now an illegal alien.

The evidence of record shows that, when you submitted your request, you were present in the United States contrary to law. You are not authorized to remain in the United States. If you fail to depart the United States within 33 days of the date of this letter, USCIS may issue you a Notice to Appear and commence removal proceedings against you with the immigration court. This may result in your being removed from the United States and found ineligible for a future visa or other U.S. immigration benefit.

Go be sick somewhere else, please. If it's fatal, that's too bad. America is about winners now, not losers, and sick people are just depressing. Especially if they have accents.

As with much of the New Cruelty, the rationale seems to be that medical deferred action is a discretionary program, so the administration is free to end it at whim, because it wants to.

At a press conference in Boston yesterday, Ronnie Millar, executive director of the Irish International Immigrant Center, which has been helping patients in area navigate the deferral process, said, "Just when you think the administration can't sink any lower, it finds a new way to torture our immigrant children and families." Millar also noted that the families he works with "are all here receiving treatment that is unavailable in their home countries, and our government has issued them a death sentence."

The Boston Globe notes the policy change seems to have arrived out of nowhere:

Advocates, lawyers, doctors, and lawmakers said the blanket policy change was made without any consideration of the potentially disastrous health affects it will have on children and adults battling HIV, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, leukemia, and other diseases.

The Globe details how one child, 7-year-old Joaquim Norville from Guyana, will be affected when deferred action expires next March for him and his mother, Shonell.

They came on a tourist visa in August 2016 to visit Joaquim's grandparents, who are US citizens, and were visiting Franklin Park Zoo when Joaquim fell ill and was diagnosed with epilepsy, Shonell Norville said. Since then, Joaquim has had major problems. His lungs collapsed when he had a seizure, requiring doctors to perform a tracheotomy. He also developed an infection in his colon, requiring the removal of his large intestine and the use of a colostomy bag.

Joaquim currently receives regular care at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital to control his seizures, and Shonell Norville said she fears for his life if he is sent back to Guyana, one of South America's poorest countries.

"I tell people, I feel like I'm signing my son's death warrant," she said, adding that she fought to stay in Boston "to save him — now, just to be pushed out. How do you comprehend that?"

Somehow, we're supposed to believe sending a seven-year-old to Guyana to die is good for America. Maybe Stephen Miller could explain it. Maybe it will free up services for American-born poor people, who also don't deserve treatment they can't afford and should just hurry up and die.

NPR's story on the policy change details the case of Jonathan Sanchez, from Honduras, who has the uncurable (but treatable) lung disease cystic fibrosis.