Costa Mesa OKs Anti-Alien Funding Policy

In a controversial move to discourage the influx of undocumented aliens into the community, the Costa Mesa City Council early Tuesday agreed to withhold city funds from any group--except health clinics--that serves illegal aliens.

As it stands, the policy could affect such diverse groups as the local Boys and Girls Club, the South Orange County YMCA, The Feedback Foundation and Opera Pacific, all of which get some degree of city assistance.

The council voted 3-2 to approve the policy--the first of its kind in the county and possibly the state--with council members Mary Hornbuckle and Sandra L. Genis dissenting.

The action drew immediate protest from critics, who charged that the policy will be unenforceable, will create confusion and add a needless expense for many nonprofit groups that would be forced to screen their clients if they wish to obtain city support.

“It is ill-advised, ill-conceived and very imprudent,” said Father Jaime Soto, chairman of the Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights. “It is really undue government interference into the affairs of voluntary agencies. It seems a very uncivic spirit that motivates the policy.”

Critics also charged that many organizations will be prompted to discriminate against Latino-looking clients rather than screen them for documentation.

Last year the city disbursed more than $266,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds and general revenue sharing funds to 30 organizations, according to the city manager’s office. Although the funds are given by the federal government, cities are generally allowed wide discretion in how they are used. It was not immediately clear if the city policy would conflict with any federal provisions.

Costa Mesa City Councilman Orville Amburgey asserted that the measure is needed because the city has become a mecca for illegal aliens who take advantage of assistance programs.

“We did some checking and found out the coyotes (who guide illegal immigrants into the United States) are telling them that if they come to Costa Mesa they can get employment, food, shelter and clothing,” Amburgey said. “We find fault with the Immigration and Naturalization Service for not protecting our borders, but at the same time local social programs are encouraging them to come, saying we’ll feed you, we’ll house you. Morally, we owe it to our taxpayers and citizens to do whatever we can to discourage people from violating the law.”

Mayor Peter F. Buffa said the action is a measure of protection to shield the city from liability over use of its funds.

“We are caught in a hopeless bind,” Buffa said. “It might prove to be ineffective, but we have to be prepared if someone says, ‘I pay taxes and you better be making an effort to ensure they are not doled out on something illegal.’ ”

Buffa conceded that the measure carries little enforcement power. A portion of the policy that would have required agencies to give the city access to their records failed to carry.

There is also no provision outlining just what measures an organization should take to ensure that city funds are not used to support illegal immigrants.

“We are trusting those organizations to make some reasonable effort to make sure the people they are serving are here legally,” Buffa said. “I am not going to suggest any specifics on how to do it. I trust them.”

Councilwoman Hornbuckle said the measure could hamper many nonprofit agencies whose budgets leave little room for expenditures to screen clients.

“This is government intervention of private enterprise in the worst way,” Hornbuckle said. “We are asking nonprofits whose money and services should go directly into services they provide to create a bureaucracy and add another layer of supervision.”

Critics said the measure will force many groups to make an untenable choice: refuse the terms and lose city money or use critically needed funds to implement a screening process.

“This will certainly create another headache,” said Rebecca Jurado, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “It seems to be another tactic to get rid of illegal immigrants, and is clearly going to be discriminatory. You are going to be targeting a specific group of people.”

Many nonprofit agencies have adopted policies that prohibit discrimination against any group, Jurado noted.

When contacted Tuesday, officials with several groups that receive city funds said they knew little about the new policy or had not had time to assess its impact.

Shirley Cohen, who attended the council meeting as executive director of the Feedback Foundation, said she was “personally offended” by the measure.

“My first inclination is to refuse city money and cut back programs, but that would hurt a lot of needy people,” she said.

The foundation, which operates food programs throughout the county, received $22,000 from Costa Mesa last year. The group has a nutrition program for the elderly in the city and also serves home meals to about 100 Costa Mesa residents, Cohen said.

By law, the group cannot deny a meal to anyone because of inability to pay and must seek low-income minority elders who have the greatest need.

“I don’t know how we are going to comply with both the federal law and the Costa Mesa law,” Cohen said. “If we agree to their terms that means a whole inquiry which we have no way to handle. It’s never been a part of what we did in the past.”

Jean Forbath, executive director of Share Our Selves, a nonprofit Costa Mesa center serving the poor, said her group would not accept the city’s new terms.

The group, located at the Rea Community Center, has been embroiled in a lengthy dispute with neighbors and was recently told by the council that it must find a new home within six months. The group receives about $25,000 annually in city funds, but also operates a health clinic that is exempted under the new measure.

“The money is very welcome but we would never agree to sign any statement that limits our ability to help anyone in need,” Forbath said.

Carol Thompson, finance manager of Community Service Programs, a group which received about $16,000 in city funds last year, said she is unsure what the new policy will mean for the youth shelter and juvenile diversion program the city has been helping to support.

“I don’t think (illegal immigrants) are a population we serve a great deal, but we have not asked whether someone is legal or illegal,” Thompson said. “We have a particular populace we go after and it doesn’t depend on citizenship. I’m not sure what we’ll do.”

The City Council’s action comes only a week after the release of a comprehensive report on the impact of immigration reform in the county. The report found that more than 150,000 undocumented workers live in the community and are not likely to leave.

Sponsored by the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the Hispanic Development Council of the United Way, the report suggests that local officials must make a more concerted effort to accept and deal with illegal immigrants in their midst.