Posted on October 27, 2005

8 Children Sue Ehrlich to Return Immigrant Care

AP, Oct. 27

ANNAPOLIS — Lawyers representing eight children who are legal immigrants sued Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday for cutting funding of health care for some children and pregnant women who are immigrants.

The lawsuit, filed in Montgomery County, seeks to have Mr. Ehrlich’s budget cut declared unconstitutional because it discriminates against immigrants.

The governor proposed cutting the Medicaid program to save $7 million in the budget he submitted to the legislature in January.

On July 1, the Ehrlich administration removed almost 3,000 children from health care coverage under the Medicaid program.

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“Because they’re noncitizens, they’re being cut. It’s a discriminatory cut,” said Regan Bailey, one of the Legal Aid Bureau lawyers who brought the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are eight children — one of whom has cancer — from Cameroon, El Salvador and Mexico.

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