150,000 Aliens Still Undocumented, County Report Says

More than 184,000 Orange County residents applied for legalization under the Immigration Reform Act, yet the undocumented community remains vast--as many as 150,000--and will continue to grow despite the new law, according to a new report.

The first comprehensive look at the impact of immigration reform in Orange County also suggested that educators, employers, service agencies and law enforcement must acknowledge the undocumented community as a long-term reality and plan for its health, social service and education needs.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Times Orange County Edition, is scheduled to be released at a press conference today. It was prepared as a joint project of the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the Hispanic Development Council of the United Way and is distilled from testimony taken at a public hearing on immigration reform last November.

“The undocumented population includes ineligible spouses and children of amnesty applicants, many Central Americans and newly arrived immigrants,” the majority of whom will remain in the county, the report states. “It is recommended that community agencies provide for basic needs such as health care, shelter and food without regard to immigration status.”

The intent of the report is to provide better understanding and implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, one of the most most sweeping and controversial pieces of immigration legislation in decades.

The law provides a program to grant legal status to those who arrived in the United States before Jan. 1, 1982, and penalizes employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

“The goal is to create a consensus regarding the impact of (immigration reform) on our county,” said the Rev. Jaime Soto, chairman of the committee that developed the report. “Our hope is that with a common perception of some of the challenges ahead, we can begin to work to bring about some solutions.”

The community at large still does not understand the “profound impact” that the law will have on all aspects of Orange County life, especially the areas of employment, housing, education, health care and public safety, many community leaders said.

“This is the first time we have had such a comprehensive report coming out of Orange County that deals with the impact of immigration reform,” said Frank Dominguez, executive director of the Hispanic Development Council. “It is something that agencies will be able to use very effectively in helping immigrants and in educating the public.”

The report includes the most recent data available on who has applied for legal status in the county:

* Seventy percent of the applicants are of Mexican origin, 8% are Salvadoran and 3% are Asian and Pacific Islanders, with the rest dispersed among various nationalities.

* Seventy percent of the applicants are between the ages of 20 and 35 and 57% are males. These statistics prove that the majority of applicants are in their prime work years and are heads of households.

* Most of the estimated 75,000 Central Americans in the county, who are thought to have fled political unrest and civil war in their homelands, have not been aided by immigration reform because they arrived too late to qualify.

* An estimated 120,000 to 150,000 Asian-Pacific people reside in the Los Angeles/Orange county area, yet nationally only 52,000 applied for amnesty, primarily because of language barriers and inadequate outreach programs.

* The demand for foreign-born labor in the county will increase significantly over the next 25 years and low unemployment and vigorous growth will make Orange County a preferred destination for immigrants.

The report points up a number of problems allegedly linked to employer sanctions, including employment discrimination and exploitation of day workers through an “underground economy.” Moreover, immigration reform has led to increasing incidents of immigrants being defrauded, the report concludes.

Classroom Shortfall

The report also predicts a crisis in the delivery of required English-as-a-second-language and civics classes, with a shortfall of 26,000 to 57,000 classroom seats in Orange County alone.

According to the report, the primary obstacles in the area are “burdensome funding channels, shortage of properly trained teachers, lack of perceived need by some administrators and the (timetables) of the legalization program which place excessive demands on the ability of educators to provide enough class space.”

The report offers a number of recommendations with which public officials and community agencies will be able to “effect the most humane and equitable implementation” of the new immigration law.

Among the recommendations are:

* Legislation that protects undocumented foster children and gives them the opportunity to become citizens, as well as legislation that recognizes family unity.

* Higher priority for job training for the newly legalized.

* Establishment of sister city projects at the local level to alleviate economic and educational problems that lead immigrants to flee native countries.

* Elimination of community “sweeps” and raids that target illegal immigrants.

According to the report, there is little monitoring of state funds that go to the county, public schools and health-care providers to supplement the cost of providing services to newly legalized residents.

The report recommends that disbursement of these funds, known as State Legalization Implementation Assistance Grants, should be subject to a closer review to ensure they are being spent most effectively. The report recommends that the county administrative office assume oversight of the review.