Illegal immigrants add to patient Backlog for Services

Fort Myers Florida
State mental health workers are starting to better track, and may eventually help federal authorities identify, illegal immigrants that are adding to the backlog of patients needing treatment.

This follows a state legislative report last month that showed Florida spent $19.6 million treating a recent group of illegal immigrants and inconsistently counts such patients in its mental hospitals.
There are 75 illegal immigrants in the state mental health system and a 79-bed waiting list, according to the state Department of Children and Families.
Sally Cunningham, who oversees Florida’s mental health facilities, said she supports new reporting rules and coordination with federal authorities, which would require legislative approval.
Even so, illegal immigrants usually account for about 3 percent of mental hospital beds statewide, she said. The system annually serves about 3,200.
“I think that it would probably be unfair to say that this population is creating the problem,” she said. “There are waits, but this is not the only reason there are waits to get in.”
The report offers options for reducing their numbers in the system:
•Change privacy laws to allow state mental health facilities to report illegal immigrants and release their medical records to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
•Illegal immigrants determined to be sexually violent predators could be turned over to federal authorities rather than be held in the Florida Civil Commitment Center.
•DCF, which oversees state mental health facilities, should assist patients who wish to return to their home countries upon release, the report said.
It is unclear what, if any, of the proposed policy options the Legislature will take up this session.
DCF is creating standardized procedures for checking and verifying the immigration status of state mental patients, said DCF analyst Wendy Scott.
Informal and sporadic counts started in 2005.
The bulk of illegal immigrants come from Central America and Caribbean countries, the report said.
A quarter of the total listed as “undocumented aliens” in the report were Cuban, who may not be deported and become legal U.S. residents once they step foot on American soil.
Whatever the numbers, a crackdown on illegal immigrant patients could be popular with state lawmakers facing an estimated $3.2 billion budget shortfall.
Florida generally spends about $9 million a year treating illegal immigrants in state mental hospitals. The total mental health budget is $375 million.
“We spend $9 million a year for mental health care for illegal immigrants when our own people stand in line and can’t get help,” said Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, chairman of the House Health Care Services Policy Committee. “That’s a problem.”
Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Miami-based Florida Immigrant Coalition, said she considers this more immigrant scapegoating.
“It’s kind of getting old, this blaming immigrants for the fiscal woes of the state,” she said. “All the data and the research show that immigration has been good for Florida and the nation.”
Lee County has no state mental health hospitals. A state hospital in Arcadia, in DeSoto County, closed in 2002.
Most patients enter state treatment facilities by way of the legal system. They are either deemed a threat to themselves and others, or they require treatment before they are competent to stand trial.
The report, by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, only looked at state-run facilities.
It did not address potential waits at private and non-profit facilities such as Lee Mental Health Center’s Vista campus, which serves as Lee County’s sole receiving facility for the mentally ill arrested under the Baker Act.
Vista, on Deer Run Farms Road in Fort Myers, has 30 beds and is routinely over capacity. In 2009, it saw 4,000 committals.
Lee Mental Health does not ask for proof of citizenship when processing patients, said spokesman Michael McNally. Nor does it report suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities.
Last year, the center confirmed only one such patient.
“It doesn’t appear to be a problem for us,” he said. “If it were a pervasive problem, I’m sure more would come to light.”