By Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 1, 2010
The number of suspected illegal immigrants being reported to federal authorities by state welfare workers as required by a new state law has slowed to a trickle in recent days.
The sharp decline is a sign that the new law is working, proponents say, because it indicates fewer illegal immigrants are applying for public benefits out of fear they could be turned over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. But immigrant advocates say they are alarmed that the new law is also making undocumented parents afraid to apply for benefits for their U.S.-born children, even though their children are eligible for federal food stamps, basic health-care services and other public benefits for the poor.
"It's a de facto denial of benefits for children who are eligible. I would say it is happening, absolutely," said Daniel Ortega, a Phoenix lawyer and immigrant advocate.
State Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, who backed the law, agreed that it is probably blocking U.S.-born children from receiving benefits they are legally entitled to because their undocumented parents are afraid they might be deported if they apply.
"Unfortunately they are caught in a tough place," said Barto, who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee. "I just think they will have to depend on friends and family and the private sector (for assistance). There are other resources they can take advantage of that don't involve the taxpayer."
When asked if one of the goals of the new law, which took effect Nov. 24, is to make undocumented parents afraid to apply for benefits for their U.S.-citizen children, Barto replied, "Yes, I think it is."
The law, passed by the state Legislature in September as part of the state budget, requires Department of Economic Security workers to report to ICE the names of people who apply for public benefits if they admit they are in the country illegally. Workers who fail to report suspected illegal immigrants can be charged with a misdemeanor.
The first three weeks after the law took effect, DES workers reported the names of 772 people who sought public benefits and were believed to be in the country illegally. That breaks down to an average of 45 per day, excluding weekends and holidays.
From Dec. 18 through Monday, the most recent data available, DES workers reported 30 suspected illegal immigrants to ICE, or 5 per day.
"It has pretty much trickled off," said Stephen Meissner, a DES spokesman. Meissner could not explain why the number being reported to federal authorities had dropped off so sharply. He said he did not believe there had been an overall drop in applications for benefits, but he could not provide data.
Vincent Picard, a spokesman for ICE in Phoenix, would not say whether federal authorities have investigated any of the names turned over by the DES or whether anyone on the list had been arrested or deported for immigration violations.
He said ICE will investigate cases that meet the agency's priorities and evaluate the names of those referred to determine immigration status and criminal history.
"Top priority is given to aliens who pose the greatest threat to public safety, such as those with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping, burglary and other serious property crimes," he said in an e-mail.
Clarifying confusion
After the law took effect, the DES issued an informational bulletin on Dec. 2 to help workers understand whom to report to ICE and when. The memo was intended to help clarify widespread confusion over the law.
The bulletin, obtained by The Arizona Republic, states that not having papers is not in itself proof that an applicant is illegally in the U.S. "Only when they declare that they are in the United States illegally or the agency receives documentation from (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) that they are in violation of immigration law, must a referral be sent to OSI (the Office of Special Investigations)," the bulletin states.
Meissner said the DES policy says that workers are supposed to ask about the legal status only of people applying for benefits for themselves. Parents applying for benefits for their children must show proof that their children are U.S. citizens or legal residents, but workers are not supposed to ask parents about their legal status if they are only applying for benefits for their children, he said.
As a result, Meissner said, he believes that all the people whose names have been turned over to ICE were suspected illegal immigrants who applied for public benefits for themselves. He could not provide a breakdown.
Ortega, the Phoenix lawyer, said numerous undocumented parents have told him that they were asked about their legal status when they tried to apply for benefits for their citizen children.
Since the law took effect, immigrant advocates have been advising undocumented parents not to answer questions about their own immigration status when applying for children who are in the country legally or are U.S. citizens.
"We tell them to say, 'What difference does it make? I am here to apply for my children, not for me,' " Ortega said.
DES asks for 'papers'
A 23-year-old undocumented woman from Mexico said a DES worker called her earlier this month and asked her if she had "papers." The call came after she had applied to renew public benefits, including food stamps and basic medical services, for her 11-month-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, through the state's Medicaid program. She said she also applied for emergency medical assistance for herself, her husband and her 5-year-old son, all of whom are undocumented.
The woman, who asked that her name not be published out of fear she could be deported, said the DES worker asked only about the immigration status of her, her husband and the 5-year-old, not the U.S. citizen daughter. But all of them, including the baby, were denied benefits.
"They asked me if I, my husband and child had papers, and I said I wasn't going to answer, and they said if I didn't answer, they wouldn't renew my benefits," the woman said.
Tara McCollum Plese, director of government and media relations for the Arizona Association of Community Health Centers, said she thinks people are giving up services and benefits to which they are entitled rather than risk being reported to ICE. Her group association includes 16 federally qualified health centers with 130 sites across the state that provide services regardless of ability to pay or immigration status.
"I am hearing from a lot of our health clinics that they have seen a real precipitous drop in the demand for services," McCollum Plese said.
McCollum Plese said she is concerned that children may not receive vaccines for the swine-flu virus if their undocumented parents are afraid to apply for medical-care benefits.
"It's also a public-health issue," she said.
Sick children who go untreated risk infecting others, she said. They also risk getting sicker and ending up in hospital emergency rooms.
"Then, the cost is borne by the hospital," she said, "and that is passed on to the rest of us, so it's a real problem."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/01/01/20100101des.html
