WESTMINSTER : City Requests Aid for Immigrant Costs

City Council members have asked the federal government to share some of the cost of providing services to refugees and newly arrived immigrants, and to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country.

The council this week passed two resolutions on immigration, including one that described public services provided to immigrants, both legal and illegal, as an “unfunded mandate” by the federal government on state and local governments.

In becoming the first Orange County city to join in the immigration debate, council members said that the cost of providing public health, education, welfare, social services and criminal justice to immigrants is growing “at an alarming rate.”

However, city officials said they do not know how much the city is spending on immigrant services. Gov. Pete Wilson has asked the federal government for $3.1 billion in reimbursements for statewide services to illegal immigrants.

The city is home to the largest Vietnamese American community in the country. About 20% of the city’s 81,000 population is Asian American and about 18% is Latino.

“It’s not a race issue, it’s a financial issue,” acting City Manager Robert J. Huntley said.

But leaders of local minority groups said that the council action is part of what they believe is a growing pattern of blaming all immigrants for California’s continuing economic troubles.

“Immigrants should not be used as scapegoats,” said Dr. Co D.L. Pham, president of the Westminster Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think it’s fair. Immigrants have contributed to the growth of the economy.”

He pointed out that the Little Saigon business district pours about $1.5 million in sales and property taxes to the city each year--an amount city officials confirmed. A majority of the business owners there are not yet U.S. citizens, Pham said.

“We give much more than we receive from the city,” Pham said.

Amin David, head of Los Amigos of Orange County, an Anaheim-based group that addresses Latino issues, said that the council members are misguided in their efforts.

“Where will it stop?” David asked. “Will (services) to children born as U.S. citizens now be billed to the U.S. government just because they were fathered by immigrants?”

Mayor Charles V. Smith, who was co-chairman of a task force on immigration at the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors, has advocated for the passage of the council resolutions.

He said that cities benefit from their immigrant population, but the costs of providing services to newly arrived immigrants are increasing at a time when revenues are declining.

Councilman Tony Lam, who emigrated from Vietnam in the 1970s, said he was concerned the resolutions may be interpreted as “immigrant bashing,” but voted for them anyway because he said he was worried about the cost of illegal immigration.