Thread: Cuts would end CA. assistance for most new immigrants

Proposed cuts would end state assistance for most new legal immigrants

The governor's budget proposes saving $304 million by eliminating several programs that provide a safety net for elderly, disabled and low-income immigrants who don't yet qualify for federal welfare.

By Alexandra Zavis and Anna Gorman
February 17, 2010

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest proposals to close California's budget shortfall would end public assistance for most new legal immigrants, eliminating emergency cash, food and medical aid for those who don't yet qualify for federal welfare.

The proposal would represent an about-face for the state. In 1996, Congress denied access to welfare for most legal immigrants who weren't citizens. California and other states established programs to fill the gap.

Now, officials say the state can't afford the price tag. Schwarzenegger's plan would save $304 million but leave tens of thousands of elderly, disabled and impoverished people with no safety net in a deep recession.

"How are we going to live?" asked 70-year-old Yong Hak Cho, who emigrated from Korea four years ago and is raising two grandchildren in Los Angeles. "Immigrants pay taxes like anybody else. So why do they want to eliminate programs for us? It is unfair and it is un-American."

State officials say the cuts are painful but necessary, and there was no attempt to single out any population group in the proposed budget.

"The fact that we have to close a $20-billion budget gap, on the heels of a $60-billion gap last year, means that we have had to make the difficult decision to propose curtailing or eliminating many state-only programs, and these fall into that category," said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the Finance Department.

When families petition to bring relatives to the U.S., they are required to sign affidavits agreeing to support them financially for up to 10 years. But many of these families have fallen on hard times. Affidavits are not required for people entering the country under various other programs.

Federal benefits have been restored to some recent arrivals, but most are not eligible for supplemental security income, food stamps, transitional assistance for needy families or Medi-Cal until they have lived legally in the U.S. for five years. Exceptions are made for refugees and a few other categories.

Only a few other states still provide cash or food aid to new, legal arrivals. Advocates for stricter immigration controls say that a waiting period to receive benefits is appropriate.

"Five years is a legitimate time to ensure that people who have come here the right way are willing to assimilate and be loyal tax-paying Americans," said Barbara Coe of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.

The proposed cuts include:

* Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, serving about 8,500 low-income elderly and disabled people. The projected savings is $107.3 million.

* California Food Assistance Program, which provides benefits to about 37,000 low-income immigrants, for savings of $56.2 million.

* Calworks benefits for about 24,000 new legal immigrants, for savings of $22.5 million. The program provides cash, job training, child care and other services to help families transition from welfare to work.

* Full-spectrum Medi-Cal services for 48,570 new legal immigrants and 65,000 undocumented people who tell the state they are known to immigration officials and their deportation is not being sought. The projected savings is $118 million. Pregnant women and children would still be covered.

The Legislature last year rejected proposals to eliminate some of the same programs, but many recipients have seen their benefits reduced.

UCLA professor of public health Alex Ortega said immigrants are frequently targeted in tough economic times because they can't yet vote, do not speak English well and are often poor.

"They have all the factors that contribute to being vulnerable," Ortega said.

Community activists say the budget proposals will leave many without a lifeline.

"These are elderly, often frail individuals who rely on this support to buy their medicines, pay rent and eat a basic diet," Hala Masri, a policy advocate for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, said in an e-mail.

Cho is so worried that he has considered returning to Korea. But he said, "I have no roots there . . . I am American now."

The $835 in aid the family receives each month doesn't even cover rent.

After working 21 years at a U.S. military base in South Korea, Cho went back to school to learn how to repair computers. When that did not yield a job, he enrolled in English classes and became certified as a security guard. Then his son-in-law died of cancer. His daughter works long hours at a Chinese restaurant, so he took in his two grandchildren, 11 and 8.

Cho now works part-time at a community center, advising other immigrants. His wife works for a program providing in-home care to the frail and disabled, but that too is slated for cuts.

"I will have to find some other work," Cho said, staring at his tea cup on a chilly morning in Koreatown. "What company would hire an old person like me?"

The California Immigrant Policy Center argues in a new report that the savings from the proposed cuts would be offset by increased homelessness and costly emergency room use.

"Not only are these cuts not fair, they are not smart," said Reshma Shamasunder, who runs the advocacy group. "They are not going to save us money in the long run."

Teddy Lechadores, 70, who emigrated legally from the Philippines in 2007, relies on Medi-Cal to pay for dialysis. He also sees doctors for his prostate cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure, and needs eight prescription medicines.

"If I were in the Philippines I would have been dead now," Lechadores said.

He was laid off last month from a security guard job. He now makes $160 a week for doing maintenance and office workat the Pilipino Workers Center west of downtown. His bank account is overdrawn, he sleeps at the center and keeps most of his belongings in his 1996 Acura, which was damaged recently when someone rear-ended him.

"I'm down to nothing," he said as he looked through his Medi-Cal forms on a recent afternoon. "Medi-Cal is very, very important."

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

anna.gorman@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 0860.story

As a legal immigrant, Mr. Cho should be yelling about the illegals with anchor babies that still are living high off the hog! At least he did his best to go through the paperwork, only to see his carpet whipped out from under him, while illegals gain more than even American citizens these days.

UCLA professor of public health Alex Ortega said immigrants are frequently targeted in tough economic times because they can't yet vote, do not speak English well and are often poor.

"They have all the factors that contribute to being vulnerable," Ortega said.

Community activists say the budget proposals will leave many without a lifeline.

Where's their sponsor!!! Oh that's right, the American tax payer has assumed that responsibility by default!

Originally Posted by vortex

As a legal immigrant, Mr. Cho should be yelling about the illegals with anchor babies that still are living high off the hog! At least he did his best to go through the paperwork, only to see his carpet whipped out from under him, while illegals gain more than even American citizens these days.

Thank you vortex, you took the words right out of my mouth. It sickens me to see illegal aliens get special treatment, while legal immigrants who have paid their dues and respected our laws get dumped on - just like US citizens do.

If we had 30 million illegal alien Koreans here, I'm sure they'd also get preferential treatment.

The proposed cuts include:
. . .
* Full-spectrum Medi-Cal services for 48,570 new legal immigrants and 65,000 undocumented people who tell the state they are known to immigration officials and their deportation is not being sought. The projected savings is $118 million. . .

This is a start in the right direction.

Next we need to tell the illegal aliens that the good times are over and it's time to go home.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

The proposed cuts include:
. . .
* Full-spectrum Medi-Cal services for 48,570 new legal immigrants and 65,000 undocumented people who tell the state they are known to immigration officials and their deportation is not being sought. The projected savings is $118 million. . .

This is a start in the right direction.

Next we need to tell the illegal aliens that the good times are over and it's time to go home.

Exactly! The illegal alien block party in the United States is over. Now gather, pack, gas up and hit the road home to your nation of citizenship. That is their Most Wise Option.

Explain 65,000 undocumented who "tell" the state that they are known to the state but are not subject to removal. Bingo! Gigantic aiding and abetting going on here. Or, the illegals are talking untruths to be able to get assistance at our expense.
Simple arithmetic would remove the 65,000 from public assistance and there would be more money for legal immigrants and American citizens that need the help.

I don't want any taxpayer funded programs for any immigrants that have been here for less than 10 years. Any immigrant that does come here legally and has a child in the first ten years should be excluded from any child assistance program funded by taxpayers.

I don't want any immigrant that enters this country past the age of 55 to ever qualify for SS if they haven't paid into it for at least 10 years.

I want my government to STOP giving away the hard earned monies of Americans collected through taxes to anyone that is NOT AN AMERICAN.

I want all these things in every state of the USA! NO SANCTUARIES/NO AMNESTIES EVER AGAIN.

Sorry I just had to rant.

How is it possible to cut services to 65,000 illegal aliens when the illegal aliens advocates have assured us for years that illegal aliens don't get taxpayer paid services because they aren't eligible.

"You got a lot of 'splain to do Lucy."

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"How are we going to live?" asked 70-year-old Yong Hak Cho, who emigrated from Korea four years ago and is raising two grandchildren in Los Angeles. "Immigrants pay taxes like anybody else. So why do they want to eliminate programs for us? It is unfair and it is un-American."

All legal immigrants have sponsors who both sign an affidavit of support, the sponsor promises to take care of them and the immigrant will not use any government welfare programs. They knew the deal when they came here and have nothing to complain about. Also this immigrant having only been here four years is not a US citizen, them saying something is un-American is the height of hypocracy.

Now the next thing we need to do is pass the initiative ending state citizenship for illegal alien babies, then as non-citizens they could not collect any benefits either.