http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbc ... 70440/1062

Posted May 7, 2006

Impact of illegal immigrants on local social resources unclear

By Belia Ortega
Sheboygan Press staff

The financial impact of illegal immigration on Sheboygan County's public education, social services and judicial systems is difficult to quantify.

Health care

Local agencies make an effort to reach out to illegal immigrants because they want to keep communicable diseases down and offer families and their children the best health care possible, said Dale Hippensteel, manager of the Sheboygan County Division of Public Health.

"Everything we do is to prevent … more expensive costs for residents and non-residents," Hippensteel said. "The services that they generally would need are going to be immunizations, WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program, prenatal care coordination."

There has been a growth in caseloads, but Hippensteel said an applicant's legal status is not tracked because he said it's not necessary to apply for the services some illegal immigrants are receiving. In addition, agencies don't have the same authority as federal immigration officers.

Cathie A. Kocourek, director of operations of Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, said all hospital emergency room admissions are governed by the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which requires that all patients requesting treatment must be medically screened by a physician.

"You can't turn people away," said Mark Kantola, a spokesman for Aurora Health Care.

Kantola said hospitals do not ask people who are seeking treatment their immigration status.

Social services

Although women who are pregnant can apply for medical assistance because their children will be U.S.-born citizens, Liz Mahloch, manager for the county's Health and Human Services Division of Economic Support, said there has not been a large increase in caseloads of illegal expectant mothers.

What she has seen is a spike in clients needing food, medical and energy assistance during the past five years.

"It's mostly because of the economy and people trying to get back on their feet … but I don't think it has anything to do with that (illegal immigration)," she said.

Illegal immigrants in the county with children who are legal residents may apply for programs such as Medicaid, food share and child-care assistance. But Mahloch said the division doesn't track numbers of ineligible people in its programs.

"Individuals who are ineligible because of their immigration status do still apply because they may have people in their family who are eligible," she said. "From a standpoint of good health for children, that's the emphasis of the Medicaid and food share program."

Court system

Identification fraud is the main crime locally involving illegal immigrants, according to Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco.

For about $1,000, DeCecco said, an illegal immigrant can purchase a Social Security number on the black market.

The district attorney and law officers in the county do not have the authority to deport an illegal immigrant, but they do report them to immigration authorities.

In a recent case, Marcos A. Sierra-Escamilla, 25, of Sheboygan, was charged with felony identity theft for using false documentation to be assigned jobs through SEEK Careers/Staffing Inc. Two additional illegal immigrant arrests were made last week by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department.

There are also cases where an illegal immigrant commits a serious crime, but flees the country before prosecution.

In January 2003, driver Juan B. Arenas was accused of leaving the scene of an accident after striking Benjamin J. Salm, a 12-year-old Sheboygan boy, who was crossing South Business Drive, just south of Union Avenue.

Benjamin later died of his injuries, and Arenas was arrested and faced a felony charge. But a judge lowered Arenas' cash bond from $50,000 to $25,000; Arenas was able to post bond, and authorities believe he fled to Mexico.

Benjamin's mother, Lynn Salm, 44, said she knows Arenas didn't hit her son intentionally, but that he shouldn't have gotten away with a crime that a U.S. citizen would not have been able to avoid.

"I know it was an accident, but I feel we have more of a problem with our court system," she said. "They had the guy … They reduced his bond. It's our legal system that failed."

Education

In public education, because state law requires all children under the age of 16 to go to school, the Sheboygan Area School District has seen a growth in its Hispanic population.

Leticia Genson, director of the English Language Learners program at South High School, said changes in immigration laws that would require deportation would affect some of her students.

"It's definitely … going to affect them greatly," Genson said. "Their parents are the breadwinners … their jobs are in jeopardy."