U.S. Refuses to Help Encinitas Foot Bill for Migrants

Three weeks after Encinitas sent a $281,695.25 bill to the federal government seeking repayment for money spent trying to solve its migrant laborer problem, the city got its answer: No.

On Tuesday, an attorney for the General Accounting Office in Washington sent a letter to Encinitas Mayor Pam Slater explaining that federal laws do not provide for such a payment.

“Generally, for our office to authorize payment on a claim, it must arise from a statute or other source of law mandating compensation by the federal government,” stated the letter from General Counsel James F. Hinchman. “We are aware of no authority to pay the claim you have submitted.”

Cleve Corlett, director for public affairs for the General Accounting Office, put it more bluntly: “There is no law on the books that says we have to pay this bill,” he said. “So we won’t.”

In October, Slater sent a letter to the GAO warning that attempts to deal with the thousands of both legal and illegal farm laborers who now make their homes in Encinitas had pushed the city to the breaking point.

In April, Encinitas became the first city in California to declare a state of local emergency over frustrations with migrant laborers--a cry for help city officials say has gone unheeded from either Washington or Sacramento.

On Wednesday, Councilwoman Marjorie Gaines said she expected such a response from Washington.

“It comes as no surprise to me,” she said. “What it’s going to take is a class-action lawsuit against the federal government. But we’re going to need some help in the form of other local cities filing similar claims. Then, maybe something can be done.”

Recently, Rep. Ron Packard, R-Oceanside, said he thinks the class action suits against the federal government are a good way to get Washington officials to pay their share of the costs of illegal immigration.

City and counties are going broke trying to keep pace with the waves of immigration, Packard said. The suit might force the federal government to reimburse local government up to $2,600 per documented and undocumented laborer to cover such costs as housing, law enforcement and medical care, he said.

The bill sent by Encinitas included $118,000 for operation of a transients program designed to bridge relations between migrants and citizens; $57,000 to evacuate an encampment of Guatemalans on city-owned land, as well as $49,000 for a year-old job center the city has operated to help documented laborers find work.