‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Pushes Immigrant Family ‘Caged Like Animals’ Storyline

-By Warner Todd Huston

ABC’s long-running medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy, featured a poor immigrant whose wife and son were “caged like animals” by evil U.S. immigration officials and a doctor who put her career and the hospital’s reputation at risk to perpetrate insurance fraud to help the foreigner.

The May 2 episode, entitled “What I Did For Love,” featured an immigrant man who entered the U.S. on a visa with his four-year-old daughter. But the girl becomes sick with an unknown illness and the immigrant, Luis (Omar Leyva), took her to the E.R., Newsbusters wrote.

The character explained to the doctors that he came to the U.S. and found a job before applying for asylum. The show blithely ignores the fact that seeking a job in the U.S. is not grounds for asylum and that, legally, would-be asylum seekers are supposed to apply for asylum before entering the U.S. and before “finding a job.”

Naturally, the episode does not note that the practice of separating children from immigrant parents began under the Barack Obama administration, nor does the show inform viewers that it is only illegals that are subject to the policy. It is likely that if Luis was in the U.S. on a legal visa, then his wife and son would also likely be coming in on a visa and would not be subject to the separation policy.

Luis is also fearful of the costs of the E.R. visit as he has no insurance. Since he has a job, he says he wants to pay. “I clean office buildings in Belltown. And I pay taxes. I am not asking for something for nothing. And I’m going to buy one of those policies as soon as I have enough,” he tells the E.R. doctor.
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