Texas governor orders hospitals to report illegal immigrants’ healthcare costs

Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday ordered hospitals in Texas to report healthcare costs incurred from treating illegal immigrants living in the state. The state will then charge those costs to the federal government so Texans don’t have to pay the costs of caring for illegal immigrants, Abbott’s office said. Abbott has long blamed the Biden-Harris administration for leaving the United States’ southern border open to illegal border crossings, which he says has placed an undue burden on Texas infrastructure.

When does this go into effect? Abbott ordered hospitals to begin collecting information on illegal immigrants’ healthcare costs on Nov. 1. Hospitals in the state must provide their first quarterly report on the costs of illegal immigrants’ healthcare to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on March 1 of next year. Hospitals must also provide annual reports to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and Texas’ speaker of the House starting Jan. 1, 2026.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives accusing the Biden administration of releasing possible terrorists into the U.S. after they crossed the southern border.