www.sun-sentinel.com

Undocumented immigrants find they don't qualify for hurricane help

By Elizabeth Baier
Staff Writer

November 14, 2005

Dalia Mesa paced inside the scarcely furnished one-bedroom Oakland Park apartment she now calls home, placed both her hands on her stomach, rubbed her pregnant belly, and sighed a bit of relief now that she has a roof over her head.

Mesa and her husband, Armando Juarez, a construction worker, used their savings to move after Hurricane Wilma left their previous apartment just a few blocks away roofless, soaked and moldy.

They do not qualify for temporary housing or loans to rent an apartment or grants to replace damaged furniture. They are among the thousands of undocumented immigrants in South Florida who cannot count on aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help replace lost furniture, food, or gas after Hurricane Wilma.

"We all went through the same hurricane," said Mesa, 26, who moved to the United States two years ago from Oaxaca, Mexico. "It makes me feel bad that no one can help us."

The law says FEMA can provide anyone with water, food and medical care as part of emergency disaster relief regardless of their legal status, according to spokesman Ricardo Zuniga.

Undocumented immigrants can also apply for the Florida Department of Children & Families' Food for Florida program, which provides a debit card for one month of groceries for families who lost food or wages to Hurricane Wilma.

But the welfare reform laws passed in 1996 specify that FEMA cannot give cash assistance to "non-qualified" immigrants, including the undocumented and some legal immigrants, such as asylum applicants or people with temporary protected status who are unable to safely return to their home country for a short period.

"This is the law. We follow the law," Zuniga said. Mesa said she didn't know about the debit card program and would not dare show up anywhere where she would be asked for a Social Security number, for fear of being turned in to immigration officials.

"I feel invisible," she said. "There's not much we can do. It's not fair."

DCF asks for a Social Security number to make sure applicants do not already receive food stamps, but not to discourage anyone in need from applying, including undocumented immigrants, according to DCF spokesman Kim Brock.

Lawyers at the Florida Legal Services Inc., a Miami-based legal advocacy group, say asking applicants to present a Social Security number is deceptive and keeps some of the most needy storm victims without help.

"DCF is publicizing that people need to have a Social Security number to get food stamp assistance but that is misleading," said Valory Greenfield, a lawyer with the group. "What they should be saying is, `If you have a Social Security number, then bring it, but if you don't, then we will still help you.'"

The fear of being caught by authorities has kept most, but not all, undocumented immigrants away from this help.

On Tuesday, Ramiro Perez, 23, stood in line for food stamps at one of the four distribution sites in Palm Beach County.

"I need help because I don't have work," said Perez, a day laborer from Guatemala who has lived in the United State seven years.

But when it comes to FEMA, Perez won't even bother. And he doesn't know anyone else who will, he said.

"How are they going to ask me for paperwork?" Perez said, referring to immigration documents. "I don't have any."

Opponents of illegal immigration have fought giving financial aid after natural disasters to people who entered the country illegally or have overstayed their visas.

"Illegal immigrants should only be getting emergency aid like water from the country whose laws they are violating," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies. "There's no excuse for them to receive any of that kind of long-term, reconstruction assistance from FEMA."

Some experts say a change in FEMA's policy could help thousands of immigrants in Florida and other states rebuild their homes and thwart some of the tension that often follows a natural disaster.

"FEMA is always under the scrutiny of Congress to abide by the letter of the law," said Richard Olson, a political science professor at Florida International University who specializes in disasters. "But in terms of recovery and reconstruction, this makes the most vulnerable even worse off."

For Mesa, it's her unborn child that gives her hope now.

"I'll be able to get more help when the baby is born [here]," she said.