Rights Groups Assail Action to Cut Funds for Alien Aid

Immigrant rights advocates reacted with outrage Wednesday and threatened to legally challenge a new Costa Mesa policy that withholds city funds from groups that serve illegal aliens, a measure that one official predicted could change the way charitable organizations operate in Orange County.

A spokesman for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) said his group will study the new policy to determine if it discriminates against undocumented residents.

“This raises the false (assumption) that the undocumented are not entitled to services,” said Francisco Garcia, director of MALDEF’s immigrant’s rights program. “The Constitution protects all persons whether they are documented or not. We will seriously look into this and assess whether a legal challenge is possible.”

The City Council approved the unprecedented measure on a 3-2 vote early Tuesday and said it is aimed at discouraging the influx of illegal aliens into the community.

Scott Mather, chairman of the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter, said the action by Costa Mesa officials is likely to have ramifications throughout the county.

“It’s a major precedent,” said Mather, who also chairs the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force. “They are putting the governmental onus on to groups that have never had to deal with such issues before. I have no doubt that other cities will consider similar measures and it will change the way people (who operate charities) serve in Orange County.”

The measure is likely to have broad impact because of the scope and diversity of groups and activities it affects, from children’s programs such as those offered by Child Guidance Center of Orange County to ones that serve the disabled through the Dayle MacIntosh Center and the elderly through the Harbor Area Adult Daycare Center.

Impact on 60 Groups

It will also have an immediate impact on more than 60 organizations that on Monday were granted $551,749 in city assistance for fiscal 1989-90. According to the policy, the money could be withdrawn from all but those that provide medical services if they fail to agree to the illegal-alien ban.

A spokesman for another immigrant rights group said the action could also leave the city vulnerable to lawsuits by people wrongly denied service.

The new policy requires that agencies receiving city funds--with the exception of health clinics--ensure that the funds are not used to support or assist illegal aliens. But the policy does not specify how that is to be done.

Most charitable groups lack the requisite legal knowledge and are not equipped to screen their customers, said Carlos Holguin, general counsel of the National Center for Immigrant’s Rights.

“The city is asking an awful lot of agencies to take on that job,” Holguin said. “Immigration status is highly complex and a difficult thing to determine. . . . The city runs a far greater danger in denying services to someone who turns out to be here legally.”

Costa Mesa’s Acting City Atty. Eleanor Frey did not return telephone calls Wednesday. However, Costa Mesa City Councilman Ed Glasgow said Frey told council members that the measure would “stand constitutional challenges.”

A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington agreed that the new measure does not appear to be unconstitutional or conflict with federal policy.

“We see nothing wrong with it,” said INS spokesman Duke Austin. “Yes, there can be standards of eligibility and, yes, you should check them; it is consistent with what the federal government has urged.”

Austin argued that taxpayers should not have to subsidize assistance or benefits for those who enter the country illegally.

And he said immigrants’ rights activists have condemned the measure prematurely.

“I know these groups, and they tend to overreact,” said Austin. “Even before anything is done they are charging massive discrimination and abuses. But in reality that doesn’t happen. I can’t point to any specific instance where it has.”

Court Rulings Cited

But immigrant rights groups said they can point to numerous instances where governments have unfairly tried to restrict services for illegal aliens. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of children of illegal aliens in several cases in which states attempted to deny them educational access and medical care, said Holguin.

“Is Costa Mesa contending that children of illegal aliens should go without a hot lunch just because of their circumstances?” Holguin asked.

It is a question that many groups will have to grapple with, said Mather.

“It has never been our policy to ask someone if they are deserving (based on legal status), we serve people in need,” he said.

He also said his group would not know how to administer a screening test. “It is interesting that the money the city gives is strictly for programs but now they are demanding that we increase administration costs.”

Debby O’Connor, executive director of the FISH Organization, said the new measure conflicts with her group’s mission to serve anyone in need. The organization offers a range of services, including a mobile meal program, emergency rent assistance, temporary lodging and medical equipment loans.

‘It Can Really Hurt’

This year the group is slated to receive $20,000 in city funds, about 14% of its total budget.

“Economically it can really hurt us to try to administer this (policy) and keep documentation on every single person we serve,” said O’Connor.

Councilman Glasgow defended the new measure, however, and said agencies should not expect to use taxpayer money without some restrictions.

“We knew they would not be pleased with this,” Glasgow said. “It is their prerogative to refuse the money. But when I came onto this City Council, for example, I had to prove I was a citizen and I don’t think that is an unreasonable thing to ask.”

GROUPS RECEIVING GRANTS FROM COSTA MESA

The Costa Mesa City Council adopted a policy this week to deny funds to any organization--other than those providing health care--that serves illegal aliens. Additional funding may be provided to some of these groups if other groups are not funded. Here are the organizations that must comply or give up city financial aid:

Tentative 1989-90 Organization Amount All-American Boy’s Chorus $1,900 Arts on the Green 20,000 Assessment and Treatment Services Center (ATSC) 5,000 AYSO Costa Mesa Region 7,000 Ballet Montmartre 2,600 Boys & Girls Club of the Harbor Area 3,000 Brother Michael’s Christian Mission 9,000 California Elementary School 2,442 Camp Fire, Orange County Council 1,500 Center for Creative Alternatives 8,000 Child Guidance Center of Orange County 7,500 Child or Parental Emergency 3,000 Services Inc. (COPES) College Park Elementary School 250 Community Services Program (CSP)-- 16,000 diversion services Community Services Program (CSP)-- 9,800 youth shelter Costa Mesa Alano Club Inc. 5,200 Costa Mesa Art League 9,200 Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce 1,700 Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse 19,000 Costa Mesa High School Field 1,750 Tournament Band Costa Mesa High School PTSA--Grad Nite ’89 3,000 Costa Mesa High School Tall Flags 3,000 Costa Mesa Historical Society 1,500 Costa Mesa Literacy Center 4,000 Costa Mesa Little League 3,500 Covering Wings 1,600 Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled 2,350 Estancia High School PTSA 3,000 Exchange Club 1,800 Feedback Foundation Inc. 22,500 First Step Harbor House 3,900 of Orange County Inc. FISH--Harbor Area Inc. 20,000 Harbor Area Adult Day Care Center 16,000 Head Injury Rehabilitation Center 2,600 of Orange County/High Hopes Human Options Inc. 9,700 Huntington Beach Community Clinic 1,600 Imagination Celebration 2,500 Japan Karate Federation Junior Team 1,750 Mardan Center for Educational Therapy 11,000 Master Chorale 18,400 Mesa Verde Figure Skating Club 3,000 Newport-Costa Mesa YMCA/ 18,000 After School Child Care Newport-Costa Mesa YMCA/ 9,800 Center for Family Counseling Newport Mesa Girls Club 2,500 Newport-Mesa PRIDE 2,000 Newport-Mesa School District 65,521.46 Newport Mesa Schools Foundation-- 1,100.00 Public Access Newport Mesa Schools Foundation-- 5,000 Promotion & Advertising Opera Pacific 16,200 Orange County Chamber Orchestra 1,400 Orange County Community Orchestra 1,900 Orange Coast College Basketball Program 300 Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter 20,000 Orange County Philharmonic Society 9,700 Pacific Chorale 4,000 Share Our Selves (SOS)--Costa Mesa 25,000 emergency assistance Share Our Selves (SOS)-- 9,000 free medical clinic Someone Cares Soup Kitchen 7,500 South Coast Repertory 29,000 South Coast Symphony 25,700 STOP-GAP 4,000 Sunshine Community Pre-School 1,200 Volunteer Center of 11,000 Orange County (RSVP) We Tip Inc. 3,675 Youth Employment Service 6,000 Youth Employment Service 1,711.30 of Harbor Area

Source: city of Costa Mesa