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Supervisors look to make up immigration costs
By Joe Naiman
The Alpine Sun
SAN DIEGO — On Sept. 25 the San Diego
County Board of Supervisors not only heard a report on the cost
of illegal immigration to local governments but also provided
recommendations to reimburse local governments for those costs.
The supervisors' 5-0 vote directed the county's Chief
Administrative Officer to draft a letter for the signature of
board chair Ron Roberts, which will be addressed to U.S.
Representative Brian Bilbray, who chairs the Immigration Reform
Caucus. That letter will request that Bilbray work through the
caucus to discuss the possibility of directing Social Security
"earning suspense file" revenue to local governments and
restructuring Medicare guidelines to provide more money to cover
the burden of local hospitals.
The study will also be forwarded by electronic mail to
every county supervisor in the State of California and a bill
will be sent to President Bush for the cost of the county's
services. Another recommendation calls for sharing information
between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law
enforcement to identify repeat acts of crime by the same illegal
immigrant.
Dr. John Weeks presented a report he completed in
conjunction with Dr. David Eisenberg. The estimated cost for
county services for San Diego County's estimated 200,000 illegal
immigrants was approximately $101 million, which equates to a
cost of $35.31 per legal resident. When the $155 million spent
by hospitals on uncompensated health care is added, the cost per
county taxpayer increases to $89.21.
"The local government is bearing the burden," said
Supervisor Bill Horn.
Approximately 3/4 of that cost is for public safety
services. Health and environment services comprise most of the
remainder, and indirect costs such as park and library usage
were not included among the expenses.
"These are dollars that are coming directly out of our
budget," Roberts said.
The report also accounted for public financial benefits
from illegal immigrants. Most illegal residents don't own homes
and thus don't pay property tax directly, and little sales tax
is generated from their purchases. The largest contribution is
to the Social Security Administration's "earning suspense file";
if a worker's Social Security number doesn't match that of the
SSA records the payments are directed to the earning suspense
file.
The contribution to the earning suspense file is
estimated at $7 billion annually, and that money is currently
used to subsidize the Social Security system.
"Some portion of that money should in fact come back to
the counties of residence of the immigrants," Horn said. "It is
actually the county taxpayer that is subsidizing Social
Security, not the undocumented immigrant."
Horn noted a paradox of Federal enforcement efforts;
not only is little action taken against those who cross American
borders illegally, but some immigration policies encourage
illegal aliens to stay in the United States on a permanent basis
rather than to return to their own country each year.
"Federal policy has definitely increased the
probability that undocumented immigrants will stay in this
country," Horn said.
"The Federal government must own up," Horn said. "I
think they should have to pay for the consequence of their
action."
Bilbray was on the San Diego County Board of
Supervisors before his 1994 election to Congress, and he was the
mayor of Imperial Beach prior to his 1984 election to the Board
of Supervisors. Bilbray did not personally attend the Board of
Supervisors hearing but sent his district director, Christy
Guerin.
"My boss would like every county in the nation to do
exactly the same study," Guerin said. "Congress is broken on
this issue. We have failed to do our job."
Guerin is a former Encinitas mayor and city council
member and noted that Federal reimbursement of the $100 million
annual cost would allow local governments to fund roads, law
enforcement officers, fire trucks, and other expenses.
"I think the President should get the study. I think
the President should get a bill," said Supervisor Dianne Jacob.
"It's outrageous to say the least, and it's inexcusable."
In 1990 illegal immigrants comprised an estimated 3.2
percent of the county's population. By 2000 that figure had
risen to 6.8 percent. "It's gotten worse, and that's what this
study points out," Jacob said.
More than one supervisor cited an Oceanside gang sweep
in which only two of the 27 arrested gang members were in the
United States legally.
"The gang warfare and the cross-border gangs are a huge
problem," said Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.
Slater-Price noted that sending the study to the
supervisors in all 58 counties would generate varying levels of
interest. The study will also be incorporated into a Border
Counties Coalition study in which 24 border counties in four
states each assess the impact of undocumented immigrants. That
report is currently embargoed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"This leaves the local residents to foot the bill for
Federal negligence," said Supervisor Greg Cox. "We need to be as
aggressive as possible in attempting to get our reimbursements."
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Christy Scott
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