http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ne ... 243116.php

Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Lawmakers agree localities need help with illegal immigrant costs.
Two U.S. representatives say testimony from local officials highlighted the problem.
By AMY TAXIN
The Orange County Register
SAN DIEGO - Despite disparate views on immigration, two U.S. lawmakers Monday found common ground on the need for a bill to relieve local governments of the cost of providing services to illegal immigrants.

After a regional field hearing of the House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform, Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, said local officials' testimony highlighted the need to do something in Washington to alleviate their budgets.

"One of the major problems you have is the failure of the federal government to act," said Davis, adding this means "increased costs on localities."

The two parties are dueling over an enforcement-only immigration bill passed last year by the House and a bipartisan bill passed this year in the Senate, which would legalize some of the estimated 11 million immigrants who are in the country illegally. With elections coming in November, some lawmakers have voiced skepticism that Democrats and Republicans will be able to hammer out a unified bill this year

The San Diego hearing was one in a series of meetings called by House Republicans at a time when the party is split over what change is needed. Compared with prior hearings where lawmakers outnumbered panelists, on Monday there was ample time to question health-care administrators and law enforcement.

"It was a 'just the facts, ma'am' kind of hearing," Becerra said. Though he compared the timing of the hearings to opening a parachute after jumping from a plane, Becerra said, "If this is what House Republicans are saying it's going to take, then let's do it."

About 100 members of the public attended, booing and cheering panelists . Before the meeting, a handful of border-control activists paced outside the San Diego County administration building carrying American flags while immigrants advocates laid wooden crosses on the lawn in memory of illegal immigrants who died trying to cross the border.

Some people who attended prior field hearings were there Monday.

"It's so polarized," Davis said. "I don't think the public that was here came to listen. You get the activists here, but they're part of the process."

WORKPLACE ENFORCEMENT
Rather than slapping employers with fines, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to bring criminal charges against employers and seize their assets if they hire illegal immigrants, said Miguel Unzueta, special agent in charge for San Diego.

In fiscal year 2005, the agency arrested 165 employers on suspicion of having hired illegal immigrants.

"Much of what we've done with work-site enforcement is focusing on employers as opposed to the employees," he said, adding that the agency has enough beds locally to handle immigration-related detentions.

Under a security program focused on critical infrastructure in San Diego County, the agency has removed 537 unauthorized workers from facilities that include Camp Pendleton and the San Onofre nuclear reactor since 2003, he said.

HEALTH CARE
Steven Escoboza, president of the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial County, said the region's 19 acute-care centers already have trouble covering costs from the growing number of uninsured – immigration aside.

Escoboza said uncompensated care in San Diego was $476 million in 2005, with roughly $119 million attributed to undocumented patients. He said between 5 percent and 20 percent of emergency-department visits in the state are made by undocumented immigrants.

While the federal government started a program to reimburse emergency-care costs for illegal immigrants, Escoboza said the paperwork is cumbersome and hospital workers want to focus on patients.

Dr. Bronwen Anders, a pediatrics professor at UC San Diego, urged more clinics to treat children on both sides of the border.

PRISONS
Government officials in San Diego bemoaned the lack of federal funding to help cover the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes.

Bill Horn, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, said his county received $2 million from the federal government for these services but that costs hover around $50 million a year.

California state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny warned the committee against focusing solely on the cost of services and overlooking the benefits that companies have reaped from cheap labor in agriculture and tourism.

"This community wants reform that works for our businesses and economy and is good for our families," said Ducheny, D-San Diego, who urged a crackdown on smuggling. "We must allow our economy to continue growing."