Thread: FLORIDA! Judge throws out farmworkers' suit on storm aid

Judge throws out farmworkers' suit on storm aid
By Eliot Kleinberg

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, October 05, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH — A federal magistrate judge has thrown out a suit filed by a farmworkers' group against the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Coalition of Florida Farmworker Organizations sued FEMA in February 2006. It said that after the three hurricanes of 2004-2005, the agency gave many workers temporary housing, but illegal immigrants had to sleep in cars or in damaged or destroyed homes.

Judge Ann E. Vitunac, in an order signed Sept. 12, wrote she couldn't decide the merits of the case because the coalition had failed to show which of its clients were undocumented aliens and so did not have legal standing to represent them. "Plaintiffs (the coalition) fail to demonstrate that the farmworkers to whom they provided housing were ineligible for FEMA assistance specifically because of their nonqualified alien status," Vitunac wrote. "Without knowing whether those farmworkers they helped were qualified or nonqualified aliens, Plaintiffs cannot prove that their organizations' resources were diverted in response to the challenged policy." FEMA had demanded the coalition provide names of people turned down. The coalition argued people hadn't bothered to apply because the agency required applicants to say if they were in the country legally, going so far as to require social security numbers.

FEMA had argued it was only following the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The coalition argued the law allowed exceptions.

"The gist of our lawsuit was they were just wrong on the law. The law did not compel them to turn away undocumented aliens in short term emergency situations like a hurricane," coalition attorney Charles Elsesser said.

The coalition is now trying to decide its next move, he said.

"We're pleased with the ruling. FEMA provides temporary housing assistance to as many as it can within the bounds of the Stafford Act and other Federal laws," FEMA spokesman Aaron T. Walker said from Washington.

Vitunac had ordered mediation this summer. She later scuttled that after the two sides argued earlier settlement talks had failed and FEMA believed it had to follow the law and so had no alternative but trial. A trial had been set to begin Jan. 14.

The coalition still is pursuing a separate civil rights complaint filed in May 2006. It claims FEMA didn't provide enough financial aid and inspectors were rude, few spoke Spanish and many made only cursory inspections. FEMA has said inspectors bring translators if residents note language problems on applications and inspectors don't need to speak to residents to do their work.

FEMA's Walker said today the agency does not comment on active litigation.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/cont ... RKERS.html

MORE GREEDY GUT ILLEGALS WANTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS.