Immigration Queries to Medi-Cal Users OKd : Law: Court says state may ask aid recipients if they are legal residents.

A state appellate court ruled Monday that California officials have the right to question Medi-Cal recipients about their immigration status, a decision that advocates for the poor predicted would discourage illegal immigrants from seeking emergency medical services.

The 1st District Court of Appeal, overturning a lower court decision, said state government officials have the authority under a 1992 state law to ask Medi-Cal applicants to disclose their Social Security number and whether they have a “satisfactory immigration status.”

A lower court had held that the disclosure conflicted with federal law, which gives illegal immigrants access to certain medical services without requiring that they provide a Social Security number or reveal their immigration status.

Under Medi-Cal, a state and federally financed program that provides medical care for the poor, illegal immigrants cannot receive the full range of medical services available to other poor people. But a 1986 federal law entitles them to emergency care and labor and delivery services.

The decision released Monday is a victory for the Wilson Administration, which has sought to require more disclosure of immigration status for a wide range of government services. In March, a new state law went into effect requiring first-time driver’s license applicants to prove they are legal U.S. residents.

Shannon Bowman, a spokeswoman for the state’s Health and Welfare Agency, said she expected Medi-Cal offices to begin asking the questions “as soon as possible” as a result of the ruling.

“Given the exponential growth in the number of undocumented immigrants receiving government services,” she said, “this decision provides state and local governments with a tool to ensure that only those truly eligible for services receive them.”

But Melinda Bird, an attorney for the Western Center on Law & Poverty, which filed the lawsuit against the state, said she feared the questions would only deter illegal immigrants--and especially those who are pregnant--from seeking needed medical care.

“Being asked these questions is frightening to people. There is a climate of fear both in our community and our state. This will have a terrible, chilling effect,” she said.

Bird said she expects to either appeal the court’s decision or challenge the state law on constitutional grounds, contending that it violates immigrants’ privacy rights.

Most immigrants are unaware, she said, that Medi-Cal officials are prohibited from revealing clients’ immigration status to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. They assume, she said, that if their immigration status is disclosed, they will eventually be deported.

The state appellate court disputed that argument, noting in its decision that illegal immigrants could not be denied services even if they refused to answer questions about their immigration status.

Bird said that if illegal immigrants avoid seeking prenatal care, the results to society in the long run could be costly, because children born to such women here are American citizens and entitled to a full range of government services.