Groups assisting illegals face cuts

May 9, 2007
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Leopold trims funds to organizations that help undocumented residents
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer
Citing concerns about giving tax dollars to groups that support illegal immigrants, County Executive John R. Leopold has cut off grants for two groups that work with the county's growing Hispanic population.
The cuts to El Centro de Ayuda and the Organization for Hispanic and Latin Americans total $115,000 and are part of $3.1 million in cuts to about 50 nonprofit groups announced last week.
Mr. Leopold cited concerns about limited county resources and the process of awarding grants to explain many of the cuts to arts and community groups.

But he said he cut funds for the two Hispanic groups because he fears they may be helping people in the country illegally.

"I've taken a strong public position on any public assistance to illegal immigrants," Mr. Leopold said. "Any organization that might be providing assistance for illegal immigrants I am not going to support."

The cuts were listed in the budget under $180,000 in cuts to "ethnic initiatives," grants that also went to African-American groups.

Mr. Leopold said he asked the county Office of Law look for a way that the Annapolis-based Hispanic groups could guarantee none of the funds would go to illegal immigrants.

"Looking at this same issue several times over the course of grant evaluations, the Office of Law has informed me it would be difficult and problematic to differentiate the utilization of funds for legal and illegal immigrants," Mr. Leopold said.

A distraught Mary Schumaker, founder of El Centro de Ayuda, said the loss of $100,000 would be devastating.

"We lost everything," she said. "The main thing is keeping the door open."

Services that the organization provides saves the county a huge amount of money in social workers and other services they would otherwise have to provide, Ms. Schumaker said.

"We need to get into the community. The community needs to help," she said. "We don't want to close our doors. We're not going to close. We're going to do the best we can to keep our doors open."

Sophie Camacho-Hoover, the president of the board, said the cut represents about half of their operating budget. The rest comes from the state and other sources.

"We're hoping to be able to raise money through different sources and appeal to the general public in the county itself to see if we can recover some funds," she said.

The organization serves 4,500 clients per year countywide, and does not ask for proof of legal residency.

Veronica Bird. president of OHLA, said her organization helps both legal and illegal immigrants and that cuts will affect many county residents.

She said the loss of $15,000 in county funding wipes out most of their $20,000 annual budget. The group is run mainly by volunteers.

"Where are these people going to go? (Organizations like OHLA) do good work, we need these types of services in our community," she said.

The organization helps people with job referrals, interpreter services, conflict resolution and mediation services.

"People that comes to us, we don't ask (for proof of status). We just help," Ms. Bird said.

She called Mr. Leopold's reasoning "outrageous."

"We do have a lot of illegals in this country," she said. "That's just the way it is, no one can figure out how to fix that one."

Undocumented workers are everywhere from restaurants to supply stores, she said, and it's unlikely the lack of funds to outreach organizations will change that.

"If you take Hispanic and Latino people away, the country would stop... If he looks around him, they're everywhere," Ms. Bird said.

OHLA will survive the cuts, thanks to a charitable foundation in Ms. Bird's name.

"He's not going to shut me down," she said.

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