On May 5, 2004, in a unanimous decision, a Florida intermediate appellate court panel reversed a trial court's ruling allowing the repatriation of an undocumented Guatemalan worker to his homeland in response to a motion by the local hospital to transfer his care to facilities in Guatemala. Motejo v. Martin Memorial Medical Center, Inc., (Fla 4th DCA, May 5, 2004).

In a stinging rebuke to the trial court, the appellate panel noted that the hospital failed to follow Medicare guidelines in placing the alien in another facility. The hospital had introduced a letter from the Guatemalan Minister of Health providing only general assurances that the alien would be cared for upon his return. The alien's ward countered with testimony from with a Guatemalan public health care expert, who stated that there were no public health care facilities in Guatemala capable of receiving the alien. Unfortunately, while the alien's ward sought a stay of the trial court's order, the hospital sent the alien back to Guatemala in an early-morning flight. The alien has been provided with no meaningful health care in Guatemala and his condition is grave.

The appellate court criticized the trial judge for essentially deporting the alien, stressing that immigration matters are pre-empted by federal law. This is an extraordinarily important ruling, because many hospitals in Florida and elsewhere hoped to follow the lead in this case to remove uninsured aliens in their facilities with long-term injuries.

The alien was represented on appeal by JoNel Newman of Florida Legal Services' Migrant Farmworker Justice Project.