CASA fights against budget cuts
By: Alan Suderman

April 14, 2010


CASA of Maryland is battling the proposed $338,000 in budget cuts it is facing from the Montgomery County government next fiscal year.

The group, which offers education, health and employment services to Hispanic immigrants, has held a rally in front of the County Council building where protesters held signs decrying County Executive Ike Leggett's proposed cuts, including a plan to eliminate funding for a hot line that guides Spanish speakers through the health care system.

And the group's executive director, Gustavo Torres, is sending County Council members personal pleas from immigrants who rely on CASA for services.

"We think that if you cut benefits, there will be more crime that will affect our community," said Luz Osorio in a letter to the council. "Apart from crime, there will be more health problems when people don't have a place to go because of their economic status."

Overall, the group said it may lose more than $1 million in funding from county, state and federal sources next fiscal year.

However, the Maryland House of Delegates approved $200,000 for the group to open a 21,000-square-foot Multicultural Service Center in Langley Park.

Brad Botwin, head of the anti-illegal-immigrant group Help Save Maryland, said CASA doesn't deserve any public funding because it actively flauts federal immigration law by encouraging illegal immigration.

asuderman@washingtonexaminer.com



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