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Bait and switch

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that it would not consider the case of Chicago vs. Shalala. This case, brought by cities against the federal government on behalf of legal aliens, disputed the legality of denying legal immigrants certain welfare benefits. Congress cut these benefits from legal immigrants in 1996, when Republicans passed their sweeping welfare reforms. While the point of law that the Supreme Court made their determination on may be correct, the issues that this law suit addressed still demand public attention.The Supreme Court was wrong not to reveiw this case, because the bill's anti-immigrant sentiments hurt the whole community, immigrant and citizen alike.

In a moment of great Republican power, the 1996 Welfare Reform Act was passed. In a backlash against the liberal proposals of President Clinton, the voters elected a large number of Republicans to both the house and senate. In this climate, and with the election year as a priority of political thinking, the Republicans did something that seemed to be very popular with the voters. Going on their vision of a family on welfare, Republicans proposed legislation to cut welfare rolls. What these conservative lawmakers failed to take into account was the amount of welfare recipients who were already working.

Perhaps the most odious part of this "reform" act was a provision dealing with legal immigrants. In section 402 of the bill, legal immigrants were stripped of the right to receive Social Security Insurance, food stamps, Temporary Family Assistance, Medicaid and protective services for children provided through the Social Service Block. The bill goes on to say that these services were taken from legal immigrants to "remove the incentive for illegal immigrants provided by the availability of public benefits."

Statements such as these run throughout the bill, and demonstrate the willingness of the Republican congress to base their laws on their worst assumptions about all immigrants. Its very wording implies that people who immigrate to this country do so in search of a hand out. Nothing could be further from the truth. These statements are very simply anit-immigrant.

Around 500,000 hard-working people a year immigrate to this country in search of a new life. Some come in search of political asylum, some come for the economic opportunity, some come to join other members of their families. Very few, if any come so not to work.

Legal immigrants, awaiting citizenship in this country, do far more than take American jobs. They pay taxes, both state and federal. They are held to all the rules and responsibilities of citizens, yet are denied the privileges. They can even be conscripted in our military, yet have no right to representation in the election of officials. They have the responsibility of citizens, without any of the benefits.

The average American also overlooks the important role immigrant labor plays in our economy. Simply put, immigrant labor helps grease the wheels of our industry. Immigrants, who are often shoved into low paying jobs because of language and educational barriers, provide a pool of unskilled labor that benefits the nation's industry. By keeping wages low, these groups help to keep the economy humming. The brutal truth of the matter is that our economy depends on expendable labor to do the jobs Americans are not interested in doing. Immigrant labor fills gaps in our country's vital, though unattractive industries.

Because immigrants often take this low paying jobs, they are vulnerable. They are not eligible for benefits and work for an unlivable wage. They and their families sometimes are not able to afford the basics like food, health insurance and shelter.

Furthermore, the process of going from immigrant to citizen is neither easy nor cheap. A local immigration lawyer, Emmanual Rebuen, estimates that the process can take from two months to five years. It costs a great deal of money, and it is not often easily afforded on the income of a recent immigrant.

Acts that hurt immigrants hurt the whole community. Not only was the bill harmful and discriminatory toward immigrants, it has had unforeseen consequences. The hardest hit by the bill's influence are hospitals. By federal mandate, all people who walk into a hospital emergency room with threatening injuries have to be treated. The federal law makes no distinction about who could be treated. It only states, citizen or not, that medical care must be provided.

Prior to 1996, the Federal government would have reimbursed some of that medical cost through the Medicaid program. Now, counties and hospitals the country over are absorbing the costs of health care for the country's guests. In our very own county, hospitals are struggling to cover the care of immigrants in their budgets. Last year alone cost UMC over 4 million dollars in indigent costs.

There is a maddening hypocrisy to the federal government's logic. On the one hand, it is inviting immigrants into the country as their wards, while denying them the aid they deserve. Instead, it expects local governments, hospitals and counties to continue to pick up the tab without the help of Uncle Sam. It's not only unfair, it is bankrupting American hospitals.

But the cost of this is greater than that which can be measured in dollars. When counties all over the country cover the costs of care that should be covered by the Feds, they are forced to take money away from other programs. Anti-immigrant sentiment hurts everyone - at both the national and local level.

Our federal government, regardless of the Supreme Court's opinion, is committing an egregious injustice against a group of voiceless people. To look closely at the legislation and admit an error when one has been committed is to acknowledge our nation's xenophobia Immigrants are one of the most maligned and misunderstood groups in America. But they clearly contribute to our country in a variety of ways and deserve to be treated better. People who contribute to federal coffers deserve federal benefits.