County Screening for Illegal Aliens : INS Computer Examines Data of Public Aid Applicants

Officials of Orange County and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Tuesday announced use of a new INS computer that they predicted can save $3 million a year in public assistance by screening illegal alien applicants.

The system, known as SAVE, for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, is part of a nationwide INS effort to help local governments stop unlawful benefit payments to ineligible applicants, said Harold Ezell, INS western regional commissioner, at a news conference in Santa Ana Tuesday.

First to Use System

Orange County is the first county in the state to use the computerized system. Ezell said a similar system for Los Angeles County may be operating within three months.

Under the program, resident aliens who apply for public assistance programs with “questionable” immigration documents will have those documents reviewed through the INS data base, Ezell said. Aliens not legally in the country do not qualify for the aid.

The computer stores resident alien documentation or “green card” numbers. The system is designed to detect users of counterfeit green cards or other fraudulent immigration documents. Under the agreement, those persons suspected of using false documents will be asked to meet with the INS.

“If they fail to appear for the interview, they are declared ineligible,” said Dick Ruiz, financial assistance director for the county’s Social Services Administration.

Ezell said preliminary studies show that $10 billion could be saved each year if the new program is used in all 50 states. The cooperative effort was launched in California in 1981 using a manual system. INS estimates that since 1981 the state may have saved $440 million in benefits that otherwise would have gone to illegal aliens. The program covers Medi-Cal, aid to families with dependent children and food stamps.

Colorado and Illinois have joined the program and other states and federal agencies are expected to participate, Ezell said.

20% Believed Illegal

In Orange County, an estimated 400,000 people, roughly 20% of the county’s 2 million residents, are believed to be illegal aliens, Ezell said.

“And that’s a conservative estimate,” he said.

He said that an estimated 1.3 million illegal aliens live in Los Angeles County.

“The illegal alien problem is not only present but growing,” Ezell said, noting that INS recently apprehended 2,345 people in a single day illegally crossing the Mexican border near San Ysidro.

Community activists criticized the county-federal relationship on grounds that it represents part of a conservative shift Orange County has taken toward undocumented residents in recent months. They pointed to last month’s Board of Supervisors vote to shift indigent newborn-care costs, including those of pregnant undocumented residents, and other health care costs to the state.

Activists and clergy also pointed to a seven-year-old Orange County study that concluded that undocumented immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in public social services.

Fallacy About Illegals

Nativo Lopez, a Santa Ana organizer for Hermandad Mexicana, an immigrant rights’ group, said it’s a fallacy that the undocumented take more than they give.

“What about the amount these people pay into federal income taxes which they never get back?” Lopez said.

Lopez said that these immigrants represent a major windfall for the United States because they provide a source of cheap labor for U.S. employers.

The question, like the immigration issue, is sensitive. Immigration experts conducted studies that have come to opposite conclusions.

Recently, Dr. Donald Huddle, an economics professor from Rice University, concluded that the windfall was a myth. But last fall, Thomas Muller, principal research associate for the Washington-based Urban Institute, found that generally illegal aliens represent an overall “positive” rather than a “negative” to Southern California’s economy.

Critics said the new procedure appears to enforce rules by intimidating poor people who are most in need.

‘Escalating Persecution’

“Orange County is escalating their persecution of people who are making very important contributions to the county,” said Father Allan Deck, an Orange County Roman Catholic priest.

As a member of the county’s task force that studied the economic impact of undocumented immigrants on health services in Orange County in 1978, Deck said the county was “penny wise and pound foolish.”

“Especially when considering the impact of this kind of a fear tactic on people needing medical care. Let’s face it, when people don’t get medical aid it affects everyone, and these people are everywhere. They not only work in farm fields but also work in restaurants and in our hotels,” Deck said.

He said studies have shown that the number of illegal aliens receiving public assistance is relatively small. “Certainly in aid to dependent children where it is about 2% or 3%,” Deck said.

From the county’s perspective, however, Ruiz said that old manual programs only “scratched the surface” due to manpower limitations and budget restrictions.

‘Gut Intuition’

“We will now assign three full-time clerks to the project, which will allow the program to operate at a maximum level,” Ruiz said.

The clerks, who have received security clearances, will have access to computers at the INS Santa Ana satellite office to check on questionable applicants.

Asked to define how clerks determine they have a potentially fraudulent applicant, Ruiz said it’s a “gut intuition.”

“Our staff has experience in dealing with INS documentation. We need more help, and that is why we’ve asked INS to help us,” he said.

Ezell said an average of 92% of those applicants for public assistance who are asked to come in for interviews fail to do so because they are most likely in the country illegally.

“We have also found that applications for assistance drop sharply when the illegal alien community learns that they most probably will be interviewed by INS,” he added.

Ruiz told reporters that the county Social Services Administration is not in the business of separating families. In the case of a mother in the United States illegally who may be applying for aid to her dependent children born in the United States, Ruiz said, “Only the child will receive aid. We will not take the mother into account.”