(StraightNews.org) — The CEO of an Arizona hospital has warned that it can not afford to continue to treat migrants and that his hospital has been overrun. He added that migrants crossing the southern border illegally are receiving treatment free of charge because they have no ability to pay. He said this is costing tens of millions of dollars. Dr. Robert Trenschel told a committee of House Judiciary Republicans that many of the migrants suffer from serious diseases and his hospital currently has a $26 million unpaid bill. Dr. Trenschel works at a hospital in the city of Yuma on the US-Mexico border. Around 91,000 migrants arrived there last year, almost the equivalent of the entire city’s population.
In January, Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines revealed the extent of the crisis. He said that the border town was receiving 6,000 migrants every single week and its infrastructure cannot cope with such numbers. Residents say that the medical facilities are particularly struggling and some have reported having to travel to other states for treatment as their own hospitals are full. The way migrants arrive is also threatening Yuma’s primary source of income – agriculture. This is because border crossers often enter the US by sneaking into fields and farmland. Local farmer Alex Muller said, “Our fields are monitored and audited and tested for different pathogens. You can’t have people walking through the field.”
President Biden visited Arizona in December 2022 but did not go to the border. When asked by a reporter why he had come to a border state but did not visit the border, the President said, “Because there are more important things going on.” He did however take a trip to El Paso, Texas, in January. The streets of the city had been cleared of migrant encampments before his arrival. Texas Governor Greg Abbott was there to greet the President but told reporters, “It just so happens he’s two years and about $20 billion too late.”
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