Denying Welfare to Legal Immigrants

* The July 30 Column Right (“Welfare Is the Responsibility of Families”) by John Chih-Ming Liu misses three major points.

First, under California law, counties are legally and fiscally responsible for providing a safety net for indigent persons. Some of the counties most heavily impacted by legal immigrants have already faced issues of bankruptcy. This welfare bill will make even greater demands on these already overburdened counties. This massive cost shift will mean less funding for other county priorities. The Times on Aug. 1 makes the same point in its editorial about the bill.

Second, since we are making major changes in the law, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and I believe it is only fair to apply new rules for new immigrants prospectively. Immigrants who come to the U.S. after this bill is passed will clearly understand the changes in the law.

However, this welfare bill will change the rules midstream for immigrants who are already here. The legislation would almost immediately strip assistance from immigrants who are children, immigrants who are too severely disabled to work and refugees who have been in the U.S. for longer than five years.

The third point that Liu misses is that some immigrants have no sponsors to turn to. According to the California State Senate Office of Research, nearly 60% of the legal noncitizens using Aid to Families With Dependent Children were refugees.

I agree that sponsors should do more to support the immigrants they brought here. I support that premise completely. But Liu forgets about those with no sponsors. They may have to turn to California’s counties, and this will hurt those counties.

I am committed to reforming the welfare system in a manner that is effective and fair for California and for our country.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER

D-Calif.

* The welfare law will deny benefits and social services to immigrants who have arrived in the U.S. legally but who have not yet gained full citizenship.

That includes many immigrants whom the Jewish community and the U.S. government strived for years to free from repressive conditions in their native countries--including Iran, Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.

Now that we’ve managed to get these immigrants free and safe to our shores, are we prepared to completely abandon them?

Apparently so. Many centuries ago, the Jewish philosopher Maimonides taught us that the highest form of charity is to provide a poor person with a craft and a livelihood. But the cruel welfare law just passed prohibits local governments from providing even job training and business licenses to many legal immigrants.

JOAN PATSY OSTROY, Pres.

CAROL E. LEVY, Exec. Dir.

American Jewish Congress

Los Angeles