Is This Really America?
Wednesday's New York Times gives a shocking description of the death of Hiu Liu Ng, also known as Jason Ng. Cause of death? Untreated cancer after nearly a year in an ICE detention center. Ng was a 34 year old computer programmer who worked at the Empire State Building and the father of two young sons. He was married to a U.S. citizen and was seeking his green card. Originally from Hong Kong, he had lived over half of his life in the United States. Not your typical or convenient description of an "illegal alien."
Would this have happened to a U.S. citizen? No. Did Jesus say in Matthew 25, "For I was sick and you questioned my documentation status, I was in prison and you reminded me that I was an illegal in the first place?" No. Shouldn't we as Christians be outraged at the mistreatment of vulnerable people, regardless of their origin or status?
I implore you to read this article about Ng's death and the response of our government, which denied him medical treatment, access to a wheelchair, and visits from family members and attorneys because he was too weak to enter the visitor's area. This is a real story of loss and suffering at the hands of a broken system. Even when people enter our country the "right way," nothing is guaranteed and nothing is certain. Our current ailing system, riddled with mistakes, loopholes and extended processes led to broken dreams and broken lives in the case of Hiu Lui Ng and his entire family.
Allison Johnson is the policy and organizing assistant for Sojourners.
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Comments
I agree that it was a preventable tragedy. However, I disagree with you comment that this would not have happened to a U.S. citizen. It can happen and does happen.
Posted by: Sister Marie | August 15, 2008 3:56 PM
i just read the article you linked to and it states that he first complained about his back hurting in april. since he has now passed away it sounds like the cancer was a very fast moving cancer. i'm not sure his outcome would have been any different had he not been bothered by the feds. roger
Posted by: roger | August 15, 2008 4:15 PM
To me, this tragedy is much more about medical care in prisons, jails and ICE than about legal or illegal immigration. I'm all for holding those responsible for this accountable for this death.
And yes, I believe this happens to a US Citizens -- especially if they've been accused of terrorist acts. When it comes to the Department of Corrections, I'm not so sure anything is guaranteed or certain. It should be, but it isn't.
As for Matthew 25, I don't believe we need to ask for documentation to feed a stranger. But that's a very different thing than letting someone live here for years after their visa is expired.
Posted by: frankie | August 15, 2008 4:16 PM
Unfortunately, Allison, these kinds of things do happen to citizens as well as non-citizens, to legal residents as well as undocumented ones. Don't you recall the story earlier this summer about a woman who collapsed on the emergency room floor of a psychiatric hospital and died while those around simply ignored her? I think it was in New York. And here in Ohio several years ago, we had an outbreak of some kind of infection in one of our prisons. The infected inmates received either no medical treatment or very inadequate care. I don't recall the details, but I think one or two died and maybe as many more lost limbs from the infection.
This kind of occurrence isn't limited to the undocumented. Our systems are ailing in more than just treatment of immigrants.
Peace,
Posted by: Don | August 15, 2008 7:43 PM
I agree with the posters like Don. This happens all the time to American citizens and it's happening now in some of the poorest parts of the country.
I was affected by this a great deal when I first heard about this story a couple of days ago. I don't know what else to say except that folks really need to be fired, the laws changed and humane treatment needs to be for all. Is that too much to ask?
p
Posted by: Payshun | August 15, 2008 8:32 PM
This is not the America I grew up in. Where will we end up? God will punish us and our government -- vengeance is His, He will repay.
Just sick at heart over the cruelty shown by all his keepers.
Posted by: Wendy Contos | August 15, 2008 8:56 PM
Very sad.
I call on the conservative readers to join in on denouncing this- or are they so busy defending the unborn that they forgot the people who have already been born?
Posted by: JamesM | August 16, 2008 10:48 AM
Christianity is dead in AMERICA.
I am willing to bet that 80% of the prison guards, wardens etc are church goers.
The main tenet of Christianty is LOVE.
Love will solve this kind of problem becausein CHRIST we would not recognize east nor west, male nor female, bondsman nor free- that is true equality.
NO LAW can make you sinless. ONLY YOUR HEART can be cleaned by CHRIST to be free of SIN.
LOVE will have parents PARENTING children instead of sending them off to sex ed class, watching inappropriate TV or wearing from age 8 "sexy" clothing.
SO we wouid get rid of abortion if we get rid of sexual sin...I could go on.
Meanwhile, I have never, in all my visits to America, ever been able to differentiate either by clothing, behavior or conversation a CHRISTIAN from a SINNER.
Posted by: alecia | August 17, 2008 12:05 PM
JamesM: "I call on the conservative readers to join in on denouncing this- or are they so busy defending the unborn that they forgot the people who have already been born?"
The silence is deafening, James.
Posted by: carl copas | August 18, 2008 11:30 AM
"Christianity is dead in AMERICA."
Wow. I hardly even know where to begin with that.
Alecia, I hear more about laws in your post; you don't sound like a person whose been given much love.
Making a sweeping judgment of all American Christians -- or all "anything" Christians sounds so bitter. I wish I could meet you, to see how your words and dress distinguish you from non-Christians. I may learn something important.
It blows my mind that, in the case of Hui Liu Ling, anyone could discount the value of his life in a "blame the victim" comment about his lack of qualifications for being in the country. It's easy to dismiss immigrants, the poor, minorities and the handicapped when they're subjected to abuse and dismissal; do you find it as easy to do the same thing when you stand eye to eye with people who desperately need other compassionate people?
"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God....
The "humble" and "mercy" parts ought to negate judgment and dismissal anywhere.
Posted by: openeyes | August 18, 2008 1:10 PM
Watch a video at NY Times about the death of Mr. Bar, another detainee. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/nyregion/05detain.html
SO sad.
All he wanted to do was send money to his family...
Posted by: GL Johnson | August 18, 2008 1:27 PM
Having been a prisoner in the Federal system, I speak from experience. All of this is familiar to me - it can and does happen to US citizens every day.
In response to Alecia, my experience was that far less than 80% were Christian, but that at least 80% were Republican. Those who were Christian never the abusers.
Posted by: Shelley | August 18, 2008 2:26 PM
To answer the headline question: yes. This IS America. And I believe that Jesus' ministry bore an unmistakeable understanding that neither Rome nor the "local authorities" gave a rip for the marginalized: however they were be defined. And he sent his teachings to US through the millenia so that we might understand that it is our job as brothers and sisters of the marginalized - members with them in the household of God - to feed them when they are hungry, clothe them when they are exposed, bring healing to them when they are sick and visit them when they are in prison.
If we can come up with ways (generally local in nature) to work through agencies, whether governmental or not, to get these assignemnts achieved on a more efficient scale, all the better. But for us to sit back and expect the government to take care of it for us was not, I think, what He has in mind. By the way, I do not single out the neocons in Washington or the progressives in San Francisco: neither the right nor the left will form for us a government that will (not should) do the work WE were given by Our Lord.
Posted by: LBRMouse | August 18, 2008 3:50 PM
What an amazingly sad and depressing story! This is not the image of the American I was taught in grade school.How did this cruel treatment of another human being protect this country? I would argue that such practices put the country in greater danger. In a few short years, our country's image have moved from a proud but compassionate people to one of a self-righteous bully in the experience of the people from many nations around the world. Some of these nations would have been counted among our friends in years past. This system is broke. It can't be repaired. We need to start with a clean sheet of paper. On that paper we need to write down some of basic moral and ethical principals to guide the process of building a system which both protects the country and respects the dignity of all men and women form every nation. This can be and must be done if this country is to survive.
Posted by: Meltone | August 18, 2008 10:45 PM
Of course this happens to American citizens. Most
(if not all) are poor. They're uninsured (whether employed or not). Mainly, they're the homeless and those in prisons (increasingly part of the US Third World workforce, resulting in soaring prison populations during a time of decreasing crime...but that's another topic). This is a direct consequence of our social policies, and our social policies are a portrait of our morality as a nation.
Posted by: DHFabian | August 18, 2008 11:59 PM
Of course this can and does happen to American citizens. It happens mainly to our poor, the homeless and those in prisons. The morality of the American people is defined by our social policies. America's indifference to a range of policies, from our inhumane treatment of immigrants to our welfare "reform" -- America's silence as our government defunds aid for the poor, children, elderly and disabled to provide annual massive "tax relief" to our richest -- defines America's morality. This is obviously what America wants.
Nothing new here. If Americans today cared, they would be speaking out loudly, demanding change.
Posted by: DHFabian | August 19, 2008 12:13 AM
DHFabian, yes I certainly agree. Americans have lots of opiates: big screen TV's with hundreds of channels, big houses and lawns and boats to care for, the everlasting pursuit of sex and money and personal fulfillment--and, sadly, more often than not, a church that blesses these preoccupations (except the sex, of course) while painting social justice as "not the real gospel."
Posted by: I and I | August 19, 2008 1:53 PM
Perhaps, JamesM, they don't disagree with anything the author wrote so they don't bother writing anything in response. Perhaps they are the same as you; they don't write anything unless they can be critical of someone else's ideas.
Posted by: Rolly | August 19, 2008 6:19 PM
Privatizing prisons sets up all the wrong motives . Dick Cheney's son in law runs one of the largest of the prison for hire companies. These companies are lobbying(bribing) Congress so they won't be watched or accountable for such atrocities. Check out Democracy Now's coverage of this story which gets into some further details.
Posted by: jonabark | August 20, 2008 11:22 AM
I agree with those who say that the problem is bigger than the narrow one Allison describes. I recently spoke to a neurologist friend of mine. She said she was hesitant to retire because she didn't know whether she could get medical insurance. A doctor said that!!! I asked another doctor friend of mine about this and he said that medical expense is the biggest cause of bankruptcy. If even medical doctors are afraid of catastrophic illness, our entire health system is broken.
Posted by: Jerald | August 21, 2008 3:42 PM
Although it is certainly true that the poor and marginalized are subject to death from lack of treatment due to a broken health care system, this person was in the custody and care of a contractor of the U.S. government. As an immigration attorney working for a small nonprofit community based agency, I can tell you that Mr. Ng's story is not unusual. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) routinely round up people who are ill, who have severely ill US born children, etc., and subject them to inhuman treatment. They routinely ship people all over the country and do not provide information they are supposed to provide to their lawyers.
The notice rules were deliberately changed in 1996 so that people are only sent letters of hearings by regular mail, not by certified mail as before, making sure that more people would miss hearings and their opportunities to present their cases in court.
DHS prefers private contractors because then they can try to wash their hands of medical and other problems. I have personally witnessed people physically and emotionally abused by ICE and contractors, being refused time to get their children US passports ("that's your problem, not ours" is the standard reply), and being forced to suffer indignities that most people would be horrified to go through.
I could write a book about the horrors of our "immigration system." It is disgusting that more Americans don't care about what happens to immigrants. We have forgotten where we came from and don't care where we are going.
Joyce
Posted by: Joyce Antila Phipps | August 23, 2008 6:11 AM
Dear Joyce,
My wife's grandmother gave birth to twins (one of whom was my wife's father) while plowing behind two mules. She had no professional medical care.
Perhaps our expectations of medical care are just too high. Shall we throw every technology possible to every medical situation?
Well, I have to go gather firewood for the Winter now and I'm 60. bye.
Jerald in Montana.
Posted by: Jerald | August 24, 2008 11:08 PM
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