the Deficit Reduction Act has taken effect

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"July 2, 2006 -- New Federal law on citizenship proof for Medicare, spurred by Southern GOP Congressmen and Minuteman vigilantes, demonstrates the definite links between anti-immigration forces and the Ku Klux Klan. As the result of the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, those applying for or renewing their Medicaid coverage are required to provide 'satisfactory documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship' in order to receive or continue their medical benefits. This law affects some 53 million Americans. The law went into effect yesterday, July 1. Accepted proofs of citizenship are original birth certificates, certificates of naturalization, and certificates of citizenship, as well as passports. However, for many elderly African-Americans, who were born during a time when African-American women who were delivering babies were not permitted admission to hospitals in the South, birth certificates are not available. Similarly, the mentally ill, homeless, transient population (including those who lost all their documents as a result of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina), and those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction will be hard pressed to provide original copies of documents.

There is no evidence that any widespread fraud has taken place involving Medicaid assistance to illegal aliens in the United States. A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Inspector general's report issued last year found no evidence of Medicaid fraud involving illegal immigrants. Nevertheless, the GOP, seeking to cater to its racist base, chose to target poor and elderly African-Americans and a program on which they rely for basic medical services.

The DRA was introduced by two GOP Georgia Representatives, Charlie Norwood and Nathan Deal. They hail from the same state that has introduced Jim Crow-like requirements that all voters provide a photo ID at the polling place. This is seen as a not-so-veiled attempt to prevent African-Americans who lack drivers' licenses from voting. Amid the anti-immigration xenophobia being waged by the radical Right, the DRA wa signed by President Bush in February. The law follows a series of laws drawn up by the racists ad ageists in the GOP who have targeted Arab-Americans and Muslims, Latinos, and now poor and elderly African-Americans and others who are reliant on Medicaid. It is the culmination of the Republican Party falling under the complete control of right-wing xenophobes with strong links to the KKK."