Washington, D.C. -- The debate about immigration reform has begun, and yet we are not even close to debating immigration reform yet. As Congress attempts to restructure the health-care system, the issue of a public option, which seemed to be the detonator that threatened to implode the effort, has now given way to one of the most polarizing issues of our times: immigration.

The New York Times said it best in a recent editorial: “Illegal immigration is an all-purpose policy explosive. Toss it into any debate and boom; discussion stops because you've got people afraid that benefits or services might be going to those who don't deserve it.”

That is exactly what has happened to the debate on health care. After calling President Barack Obama a liar in the middle of Obama's speech, Rep. Joe Wilson -- who until then was a virtual unknown outside of his state of South Carolina -- has become an overnight national hero of sorts for those who were desperately looking for a high-caliber weapon to point at the president.

Wilson was accusing Obama of not telling the truth when the president reaffirmed something he has been saying for months, that undocumented immigrants would not be included in his proposed changes to the health-care system. Wilson based his attack on the fact that amendments that would require verification of citizenship had been defeated.

The new bill presented by the Senate Finance Committee includes verification clauses that say undocumented immigrants need not apply. It goes even further by not allowing undocumented immigrants to purchase health insurance from any exchange, even with their own money. In fact, there are clauses that limit health services for law-abiding, tax-paying legal permanent residents. Wilson's temper tantrum worked. But the consequences could be counterproductive.

It is true that among the 46 million people in the U.S. who have no health insurance, there are about 7 million undocumented immigrants. What they do now is go to the emergency room, often with a serious illness that ends up costing much more than if they were able to receive early treatment at a clinic or with a private doctor.

As far as citizenship verification, the question is how would it work for those who apply for a subsidized health plan or try to purchase insurance from the proposed exchange? Would the government require everyone to prove that he or she is a U.S. citizen? Would elderly Americans have to show their birth certificates or passports in order to cure their illness? In other words, would an American have to prove that he or she is an American in order to buy health insurance?

While the stricter, anti-immigrant portion of the new bill might have been an effort to appease critics, the underlying message seems to be: “We want immigrants out of our country” -- specifically, Latino immigrants.

It's no coincidence that in the middle of the debate on health care, dozens of conservative radio and television talk-show hosts joined forces with FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform -- considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center -- to demand a hard-line/enforcement-only approach to immigration reform. Rallies and other events were held in Washington just when the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute was celebrating its annual conference and the country began to observe Hispanic Heritage Month. So there is a right-wing rally against immigration reform, when immigration reform has not yet begun.

This debate is no longer about whether undocumented immigrants will have access to subsidized health-care plans. It's about making sure that immigrants from south of the border don't have access to jobs, housing, education, emergency health services or anything else that a human being would need to survive. Or at least that's what a very vocal minority would like to see. As Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, stated, this country cannot allow a heckler to dictate health-care policy. Nor can we allow the negative tone of the debate on health care to endanger the very needed overhaul of our broken immigration system.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2009 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate