Republicans sound alarm on migrant surge’s threat to hospitals in 'sanctuary' cities

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are pushing the Biden administration to take action over reports that safety net hospitals in at least one state are hitting a breaking point due to a surge of migrants that has left states and cities overwhelmed across the U.S. – with lawmakers warning it could soon spread to other hospitals across the country.

Republicans led by Chairman Jason Smith, in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, cited reports that the main safety net hospital – a hospital that provides care for uninsured patients – in Denver, Colorado, is facing financial pressures and has turned away patients "due to a massive influx of illegal immigrants into that community and the resulting increase in hospital visits and services provided to those individuals."

CBS News reported that the hospital had about $60 million in uncompensated care in 2020, and that is now up to $136 million, with a quarter coming from non-Denver residents. Officials have said that it is at a "critical point."

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House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The Republicans cited reporting that showed Denver Health is warning it is unable to invest in the buildings and is turning away Denver residents in the area seeking care for mental health and substance abuse.

However, the lawmakers warn that the problem could soon become national. The nation is gripped by a three-year migrant crisis that saw more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY23 alone and more than 300,000 in December. A number of states, including those with "sanctuary" policies that forbid or limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are struggling to deal with the numbers they are seeing and say the numbers are straining services. They have also appealed to the federal government for additional help.

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"Denver Health’s challenges may soon be mirrored by hospitals in sanctuary cities across the country, imperiling the nation’s health care safety net and threatening health care access for vulnerable patients," the Republicans say.

The Republicans ask Becerra what actions the department has taken to ensure that hospitals are not turning away patients due to a surge of migrants into the area "as a result of their locations’ sanctuary policies."

The letter also asks what guidance it has provided to hospitals facing such a surge, and if it will amend Medicare regulations to require hospitals to prepare for such an eventuality. Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment on the letter.

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Venezuelan migrants wait in line for food from a food truck at a migrant processing center on May 9, 2023, in Denver, Colorado. (Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

The letter comes as both President Biden and former President Donald Trump are heading to the border. Democrats and the administration have blamed Republicans for the current crisis by saying they refuse to pass additional funding and comprehensive reform to fix the crisis — including a recent funding and reform bill that failed to take off in the Senate. Biden is expected to renew calls to pass the bill when he visits the border.

Republicans, however, blame the administration for the crisis and argue that it coincided with an ending of Trump-era policies and more liberal policies, including increased catch-and-release and reduced interior enforcement.

"President Biden’s disastrous border policies are directly responsible for the unprecedented crisis at our southern border, resulting in millions of illegal immigrants flooding American communities and straining our public health infrastructure," Smith said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

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Smith said he and his colleagues on the committee are "committed to holding the Biden HHS accountable to ensure our health care system is prepared to address the challenges this administration’s border policies have created."

"Until we return to the Trump-era policies that actually secured the border, the health of our entire nation will continue to suffer the consequences," he said.