Benefits off-limits to illegals
Undocumented can get only limited range of taxpayer-funded services
STORY TOOLS
Email this story | Print

RELATED STORIES
Republicans hustle to carry immigration bills
Special session brings hassles
Johnson: Image of illegals voting is just bugaboo
By Myung Oak Kim and Rosa Ramirez, Rocky Mountain News
June 30, 2006
Colorado's raging immigration debate has taken many twists and turns, but it always returns to one question:
To what extent do illegal immigrants use taxpayer-funded services?

The charge that illegal immigrants are dipping into programs such as food stamps and welfare has triggered a special session of the legislature next week, after the state Supreme Court nixed a ballot measure on the issue.

The Rocky Mountain News analyzed the maze of laws, regulations and procedures connected to about two dozen services. Put simply, illegal immigrants are not entitled to most public benefits, unless they're able to produce convincing fake identification.

"It's not an open door - come get food stamps or anything you want," said Lorena Reyther- Miranda, an immigration specialist who works with victims of domestic violence, many of them immigrants, at the Denver Center for Crime Victims.

But illegal immigrants can legitimately access a limited range of taxpayer-funded services.

Federal law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings say they're entitled to K-12 public education and assistance in a public safety emergency.

If they're poor, they're entitled to emergency medical care, including childbirth, and legal representation if they're accused of a crime.

Such benefits are rooted in the concept that the government needs to ensure the basic welfare of people and communities, regardless of a person's income, immigration status or other issues.

In Colorado, illegal immigrants have access to some services that go beyond those mandated federally. They can obtain food vouchers for children and pregnant women, business licenses and health services at certain clinics that serve the poor. General services such as transit, parks and public libraries are available to all residents, no questions asked.

In preparation for the special session that begins Thursday, state researchers are compiling a report about what services illegal immigrants get, and how much that costs.

The Bell Policy Center, a pro-immigration Denver think tank, will release two reports today estimating the amount illegal immigrants pay in taxes and how much taxpayer money is spent on providing them services.

They will not find precise answers.

For one thing, many agencies do not check or track the immigration status of clients.

Take the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, funded by the federal government and administered by local health departments. The program is based on need, not legal status.

WIC serves such clients as Martha Espino, who said she has lived in Denver illegally for six years. She has a 5-year-old daughter who was born here, and therefore is a U.S. citizen. Espino is nine months pregnant and receives WIC, as well as health care at the Sam Sandos Westside Family Health Center at West 11th Avenue and Federal Boulevard.

She's scared by the prospect of losing those services if tough new laws are passed.

"It will affect me," Espino said, pausing to look at her swollen belly. "It will affect a lot of us."

Looking to Georgia

Illegal immigrants are not entitled to most social services such as welfare (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), food stamps, public housing assistance and most Medicaid coverage.

Under a new federal law tightening up on Medicaid eligibility, the government on Saturday will start requiring recipients to prove U.S. citizenship through birth certificates or other documents.

But next week, state lawmakers will discuss clamping down even more. They will consider enacting elements of a Georgia law that discourages the hiring of illegal immigrants and restricts state services to them.

Lawmakers also will consider reviving Initiative 55, the proposed ballot measure rejected by the state Supreme Court.

The constitutional amendment would prohibit illegal immigrants in Colorado from receiving all taxpayer-funded public services except those required by the federal government - K-12 education, emergency medical care and assistance in the event of a public safety emergency.

Just what services would be classified as non-emergency would be left up to the legislature. However, it appears such restrictions could cut medical services to illegal immigrants at public and nonprofit clinics that receive state money. Illegal immigrants also might no longer be able to get a business license or immunizations.

Many programs, usually ones that target the poor and abused, intentionally don't ask for a client's immigration status.

They include WIC, protective services for abused or neglected children, and immunizations and medical care at clinics, including most of those run by Denver Health, that are designated as "federally qualified health centers."

"The reason behind that, and it is an important message, is that we treat the entire community as if it is a community," said Rich-ard Vogt, executive director of the Tri-County Health Department, the largest health department in Colorado, serving Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties.

"If we actually refrain from providing those services, we may do a disservice to an unborn child . . . and to the community at large. We're very concerned that people may not access important care if in fact there is concern about being identified as an undocumented immigrant."

Illegal immigrants also can access some administrative services, such as obtaining business licenses and transferring property.

Employees of agencies that provide general public services such as transit, public garbage pickup and parks don't ask users for identification. It is unclear whether they could be forced to begin checking if an Initiative 55-like law were enacted, but agency leaders say such a mandate would be impossible to enforce.

"We are not the Border Patrol," said former Denver Librarian Rick Ashton. "We don't have the resources or the authority or the expertise to know who is legally or not legally present in the United States."

The big question with Initiative 55 and similar efforts is what services fall under the category of non-emergencies, and how federal laws, regulations and funding could affect state efforts to stop illegal immigrants from getting services.

"For us this is not a debate over where we come down on illegal immigration," said Sam Mamet, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, which represents 265 cities and towns. "The question still turns for us on what is a non-emergency service. I don't know.

"What is this going to impose on us new in the way of responsibilities that we don't do now and how are we going to comply?"

'I never asked for welfare'

It is impossible to determine precisely the extent to which illegal immigrants access services and how much taxpayer money goes to them because most agencies don't ask for a client's immigration status. But anecdotal evidence shows limited use.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that about 250,000 illegal immigrants live in Colorado. Of those, 30,000 to 40,000 are children.

The Colorado Department of Human Services said in a 2005 report on a proposed bill similar to Initiative 55 that it served 88 illegal immigrant children through protective services in fiscal 2003-04. That represents a fraction of 1 percent of the agency's total clients and budget.

Reyther-Miranda of the Denver Center for Crime Victims said most of the 80 women her agency helps every year are illegal immigrants. Among then, she estimated that 5 percent to 10 percent access some form of public benefit for their U.S. citizen children.

Guillermina Flores, a Mexico native, said she didn't seek public benefits when she was here illegally, largely because she didn't know they were available to her. She said she became a legal permanent resident 15 years ago.

Flores said she gave birth to her first child in this country while here illegally and paid the nearly $5,000 bill in small installments.

"I never asked for welfare or anything," she said. "Nobody ever gave me anything."

Mar Muρoz-Visoso, executive director of Centro San Juan Diego, a Catholic social service agency operated by the Archdiocese of Denver, said most immigrants won't use public services even if they are eligible. They don't trust the government, she said.

They are scared to expose themselves to immigration authorities, and they have not had experience with these benefits because their home countries did not provide them, she said.

Rather than going to the government, these immigrants will seek help from relatives, neighbors and friends first, Munoz-Visoso said.

She said the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is a good example of this.

After the disaster, the Mexican consulate in Denver arranged to provide help and shelter to displaced Mexican immigrants - legal and illegal. Centro San Juan Diego prepared to help. But nobody came, she said.

What the furor is all about

The immigration debate often centers on the use of public services by illegal immigrants. Here's a look at services and benefits, a mix of local, state and federal, and their availability to people who are in the country illegally. Some services that are off-limits could be used by people who obtain fake identification.

Available to illegal immigrants

• K-12 public education: The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case, Plyler vs. Doe, said that denying K-12 public education to illegal immigrants violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that educating undocumented children benefits the country in the long run.

• Free and reduced-price school lunches and breakfasts: The 1996 federal welfare law (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act) says this service is available to noncitizen children as long as families show financial need.

• Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program: Agency workers do not ask for a client's immigration status.

• Outpatient medical care: Only at clinics designated as federally qualified health centers - those helping needy communities - where clients receive medical care if they demonstrate financial need.

• Prenatal care: Only at federally qualified health centers.

• Emergency medical care: Paid by Medicaid if patient shows financial need.

• Labor and delivery care in hospitals: Paid by Medicaid if patient shows financial need.

• Immunizations: Health departments and clinics generally do not ask for immigration status. They prefer to vaccinate as many people as possible to prevent disease outbreaks.

• Business license: The state does not ask for proof of immigration status.

• Workers compensation: State law requires employers to pay for workers comp insurance for employees or to self-insure. Payments do not come from public funds.

• Public defender: Required by the U.S. Constitution for those charged with criminal offenses (not available in civil court or immigration court).

• Public garbage pickup

• Police and fire services

• Public park use

Not available to illegal immigrants

• Student loans for higher education: Illegal immigrants are not eligible for federal and state financial aid, including work-study programs, student loans and need-based aid such as Pell Grants.

• In-state college tuition: Illegal immigrants must pay higher out-of-state tuition rates in Colorado. States that do offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition include Texas, California, Kansas, New York, Utah, Illinois and Oklahoma.

• Medicaid: Non-emergency coverage. As of Saturday, recipients must document citizenship or qualified legal immigration status. A court challenge to that rule has been filed.

• Welfare: (now called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Agency workers check an applicant's Social Security number and match it to his or her name.

• Food stamps: Same procedure as welfare.

• Public housing: Same procedure as welfare.

• Low-income energy assistance: Same procedure as welfare.

• Voting: Requires a Social Security number and proof of residency such as a utility bill. No verification of that information is done.

• Gun permits: If an applicant acknowledges he or she was born outside the U.S., the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which does background checks, will check the applicant's immigration status with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

• Social Security: A person must show proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status to receive benefits.

• Public library card: Anyone can use the library. However, to get a library card, applicants must show a U.S.-issued driver's license, or other identification. A student need only show a school-issued ID.

• Driver's license: Applicants must show proof of immigration status through two forms of ID, such as a birth certificate, out-of-state driver's license that has expired within the past year or a passport.

Source: Rocky Mountain News Research
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 97,00.html