Philadelphia could become first U.S. city to ban medical deportations
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia is on the road to becoming the first city in the U.S. to make medical deportations illegal, according to an immigrant advocacy group.
In a 14 to 1 vote Thursday, Philadelphia City Council approved a bill that makes it unlawful for a hospital in the city to send a noncitizen to their home country without consent.
The change has been a long time coming for Claudia Martinez and her uncle.
"I'm very happy, very content, very thankful," said Martinez, who is a medical deportation advocate.
These are measures Martinez wishes were around in 2020 when her uncle was almost medically deported to Guatemala after a car accident.
"They didn't give me an interpreter so the hospital made that decision about his life themselves while he was unconscious," Martinez said in Spanish.
With the help of the immigrant advocacy group Free Migration Project, Martinez's uncle was never deported and found care at a Philadelphia clinic, where he continues to recover.
"Now he's alive and it's a real miracle," she said in Spanish.
Free Migration Project Deputy Director Adrianna Torres-Garcia said hospitals are paying "up to $50,000 per flight to get people to another country because they don't want to provide care."
Sending an injured or ill noncitizen patient from the U.S. to another country would still be legal as long as a caregiver or the patient gives permission, which is known as medical repatriation.
"It's really simple. It's about consent," Torres-Garcia said.
This ordinance will go into effect once the mayor signs it.