Immigration forum yields no solutions

[ruthiela]

http://www.thefranklinpress.com/article ... 01news.txt

Immigration forum yields no solutions
By Melissa Maracle and Rebecca Ledford, staff writers

North Carolina ranks eighth in the nation for the number of undocumented immigrants, with about 300,000 or 3 percent of the nation's Hispanic illegal immigrant population, according to a 2004 study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Senator John Snow and a representative for Congressman Charles Taylor attended a forum Monday presented by the Macon County Board of Commissioners. The forum included county department representatives and county residents who gathered to discuss the economic impact of illegal immigration.

The purpose of the forum was to explore the way illegal immigration impacts different local agencies and how this growing issue affects the county.

“It's no longer just a regional issue, it's no longer just a border i ssue,” said Vicki Greene, forum facilitator. “Every town in America is now a border town.”

It was estimated in the year 2000 that there were between eight million and 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.


But the actual economic impact in Macon County is largely unknown.

In accordance with both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, public services are not allowed to verify an immigrant's residency status unless the service is contingent on the status, such as obtaining a driver's license. Most public agencies cannot determine the cost that illegal immigrants have on their departments, because they cannot distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

Chris Stahl, director of Macon County Solid Waste, said, “It's impossible to say whether it's legal immigrants or illegal immigrants that we're dealing with.”

Due to that fact, the discussion during the meeting shifted to the impact of the growing Hispanic population, both legal and illegal.

Language barriers



The vast majority of county agencies cited a language barrier as their most significant difficulty when dealing with immigrants.

“The biggest problem that we're seeing is a language problem,” said Warren Cabe, director of county emergency management.

Like many county agencies, emergency services are obligated to provide service to anyone who needs it, regardless of legal status.

Some of the agencies, such as the sheriff's department, have bilingual employees, but others contract with interpreters. However, many interpreters are not available 24 hours a day.

In the case of an emergency, a language barrier could mean the difference between life and death.

Curtis Dowdle, director of the Public Safety Training Center at Southwestern Community College said there have been a lot of requests for a basic Spanish class for public safety personnel.

While SCC currently does not have such a class for public safety, it does offer English as a Second Language (ESL) classes free of charge to those immigrants who want to improve their English.

Not knowing English could cost an immigrant's employer money. Jack Morgan, codes administrator for Macon County Code Enforcement, said that employees at many inspection sites only speak Spanish and this can delay building inspections. In the past, building inspectors just returned later when English-speaking employees were present, at no additional cost to the employer. However, due to the increased cost to code enforcement, the policy has changed. Now, code enforcement charges a re-inspection fee for those return visits.

Macon County Schools have seen a significant increase in the number of students with limited English-speaking abilities. For immigrant children who are just beginning to learn English, Macon County Schools offer ESL classes. All children, regardless of legal status, are enrolled.

In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools are to admit illegal immigrant children. Public schools can only require immunization records, not records of citizenship.



“Any child who shows up, we enroll,” said Terry Bell, director of auxiliary services for Macon County Schools.

The total number of immigrant students in Macon County as of March 2006 was 92.

From schools to social services, the language barrier can be costly.

According to a Department of Social Services report, the cost of translation services for the department was approximately $1,500, but is expected to rise with the increase of immigrants. Last fiscal year, the department purchased a handheld translation device for $1,000.

Housing: a “crisis situation”

The language barrier is not the only social issue facing county residents and immigrants alike.



Housing Director Rick Norton said that availability of affordable housing in Macon County has become a “crisis situation.”

Many immigrants tend to share low-income housing in large groups to cut costs. Norton said this can lead to unsafe living conditions like fire and health hazards as well as social concerns. In addition to these safety risks, some immigrants are taken advantage of by their landlords.

According to the housing department, some landlords may refuse to make needed repairs, knowing their renters will not pursue legal action for fear of being exposed as illegal immigrants. Many immigrants pay in cash and have no lease or rental agreement with the landlord. Therefore, the landlord could evict them at any time.

If a complaint is filed with the sheriff's office about overcrowding, many times deputies arrive only to discover fewer tenants are present than reported, and the department cannot prove more people live there. Therefore no action can be taken. If the complaint is filed again, the department is obligated to investigate again. If the department still turns up empty-handed, it becomes a waste of time and money.

Crime and identity



When the sheriff's department arrests an immigrant, they are also not allowed to ask the legal status.

However, the immigrants in question very often volunteer this information to the officers.

“They tell us all the time that they're here illegally,” said Sheriff Robert Holland.

But according to INS, there is nothing the department can do about illegal immigrants if they have not committed a felony or major offense.

Because of the lack of manpower, the department has been focusing on other more serious issues.

“Illegal immigration has not been a priority of mine,” said Holland, although he has encountered the problem.

Holland said the majority of immigrants are involved in domestic disputes or traffic violations. He said that nine out of 10 illegal immigrants involved in traffic violations have automobile insurance but no driver's license.

Now, thanks to a bill passed by the N.C. General Assembly on July 26, it is even harder for illegal immigrants to obtain a license. The bill requires proof of a valid Social Security number before a driver's license can be issued.

Health and Social Services

According to Ken Ring, director of the Macon County Public Health Center, the number of Hispanic clients has increased over the last few years. Health services are also barred from asking an immigrant's legal status. Therefore, the number of illegal immigrants receiving public health care in Macon County is unknown.

Ring said most of the Hispanics come to the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics. The number of Hispanic clients receiving services at the MCH clinics has increased 9 percent in the last two and a half years. Due to this increase in prenatal patients, the number of days that the prenatal clinics offer services has increased as well.

Ring said the Hispanic clients generally fall into the sliding-scale fee category and pay their fees better than other clients.

The different departments under the Department of Social Services handle immigrants differently. Some services are dependent on legal residency, including Medicaid, food stamps and child care subsidies. These are the income maintenance and economic services, and the departments offering these services are required to verify legal status. Although other programs are available to legal immigrants, these three are the primary programs serving them.

Other social work services are based on need and therefore legal status is irrelevant. These services include protective services and foster care.

This year, Child Protective Services has investigated 10 cases involving illegal immigrants. Wesley Price, of Child Protective Services, said that if illegal immigrant children are ever taken into custody, there are no federal or state funds to cover the costs. The county would be required to pay the total cost. However, there has not yet been an illegal immigrant child in the county's foster care system.

While immigrants must be legal to receive continued Medicaid, illegal immigrants can receive Medicaid under emergency services and presumptive eligibility categories. Pregnant women can receive two months of coverage under Presumptive Pregnant Woman Medicaid. In the last year, 60 illegal pregnant women received this coverage.

Children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents are legal citizens. In a household including illegal immigrants, if there is at least one U.S. citizen or legal immigrant, that household can be authorized for food stamps and child care subsidies. Out of all children ages birth to 18 receiving Medicaid coverage in Macon County, 8.3 percent are Hispanic.

Food stamp programs are also contingent on legal status. However, food stamp assistance is available for households in which there are some legal immigrants or U.S. citizens. The way it is calculated, in some cases, it is possible that a household with some illegal residents could be eligible for more benefits than a legal household with the same income.

As an example, in a household of two illegal parents and two legal children, the total income is divided by four (the number of people in the household) and multiplied by two (the number of legal members), which in that case would result in a halved total income. This would make the household with some illegal immigrants eligible for food stamps when a household without illegal immigrants might not be eligible due to a higher calculated income that places the household above the eligibility level.

With so many public services not allowed to ask an immigrant's legal status, it is impossible at this time to determine the economic impact of illegal immigrants in Macon County. However, the growing immigrant population is cause for serious discussion among county agencies and residents.

Where do we go from here?

The forum concluded with recommendations by citizens and agencies for local, state, and federal officials to deal with the impact of both legal and illegal immigrants.

One of the recommendations is already in the process of being implemented and may eventually find its way to Macon County. Rebecca Hepple from Congressman Charles Taylor's office in Franklin presented a plan for a regional task force. The task force would bring together area law enforcement with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent from Charlotte to “become trained and certified to process and deport [illegal immigrants],” said Hepple. This pilot program will begin soon in the eastern counties of the 11th district, and is expected to move to the western part of the district in the future, which would include Macon County.

Other recommendations included:

Create a fraud-proof national identification program

Funding for Medicaid by the state, not just the county

Implement a minimum housing code

Require immigrants to take English classes

Prevent landlords and employers from taking advantage of illegal immigrants

Look at the county income generated by immigrants

Decide whether this is a social or political issue

Have the “courage to behave more ethically ourselves,” said one county resident

Take away all social services except emergency medical care for illegal immigrants

Heavily fine employers who hire illegal immigrants

Publicize methods for employers to verify employees' Social Security numbers

Senator John Snow, who was in attendance, offered his suggestions for the future of Macon County and North Carolina.

“If we can enforce the immigration laws that are already on the books, all of these problems could be solved,” said Snow, acknowledging that it will be costly.

“We've got to have the money that follows the action,” said Snow.

On the other hand, Stacy Guffey, director of county planning, said the availability of cheap immigrant labor promotes county development.

“We need to find a balance between the need to control immigration and the need for cheap labor,” said Guffey.

County Commissioner Jim Davis concluded the meeting with his remarks.

“We do not have a country if we do not have control of our borders. Period,” he said. “We welcome all law-abiding citizens who want to participate in the American dream.”

[sippy]

“It's no longer just a regional issue, it's no longer just a border i ssue,” said Vicki Greene, forum facilitator. “Every town in America is now a border town.”

You're right, and its still about 'enforcing the law' issue.

“If we can enforce the immigration laws that are already on the books, all of these problems could be solved,” said Snow, acknowledging that it will be costly.

Here Here!

[CheyenneWoman]

I am getting so sick and tired of hearing - It's not my job that I want to

Have we so browbeaten down our law enforcement to be PC that they're basically impotent?

I certainly do agree with sippy

“If we can enforce the immigration laws that are already on the books, all of these problems could be solved,” said Snow, acknowledging that it will be costly.


Here Here!

Dirty Harry - where are you when we need you???