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Home My WebLink About1986-06-24; City Council; 8672; Illegal Immigrants Cost Recoveryz 0 ti c( ..I u z :::, 8 CIT,_?F CARLSBAD -AGEND/' ,1LL AB# J>tp 72_ II.ILE; MTG. 6/24/86 DEPT. CM RECOMMENDED ACTION: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS That Council endorse the proposal outlined in Supervisor Golding's letter of June 11, 1986, and request the Mayor to send a letter of support. BACKGROUND: Supervisor Golding is asking the Board of Supervisors to take the following action: 1) Establish a San Diego Border Commission. 2) Ask the Federal government to reimburse County costs for illegal immigrants. DEPT. HD.- CITY ATTY \J EB CITYMGR.dfJ- 3) Develop a tracking and monitoring system to determine costs of illegal immigrants' services. 4) Authorize County Council to file legal action to obtain Federal reimbursement for County services to undocumented immigrants. FISCAL IMPACT: None EXHIBITS: 1. LP.tter from Supervisor Golding requesting endorsement of seeking cost recovery for the provision of County services t') illegal immigrants. I \ I ' SUSAN GOLDING SUPtRVISOR. Tl ◄IRO DISTRICT SAN DIEOO COUNTY BOARD 01' SUPERVISORS June 11, 1986 The Honorable Mary H. Casler, Mayor city of Carlsbad 1200 Elm Avenue Carlsbad, CA 92008 Dear Mary: i5161l!P ♦ "A 0:, JUN 198B co City of .CARLSBAD Car:libitd, By now, you probably have heard of my proposal to seek cost recovery from the Federal government for the provision of county services to illegal immigrants. While this proposal was initially dramatized and misinterpreted by some members of the media, it is a serious and thoroughly researched measure that I fully intend on presenting to the Board for approval. Since 1980, the County of San Diego has spent over $16 million on emergency health care for illegal immigrants and, undoubtedly, several million more in costs associated with other county programs and services. This economic concern is even better compre.hended when we realize how many residents have been affected as County services have either been eliminated or cut back as a result of reduced Federal funding. Last year, for example, nearly 40,000 citizens were impacted when the County lost Federal Revenue Sharing allocations. $122,000 was cut from senior citizen programs, $400,000 was slashed from community clinic budgets and $2 million was eliminated from social service programs. The U.S./Mexican international border, which defines the southern boundary of San Diego County, is the most heavily impacted region in the United States with respect to illegal immigration. At a time when publicly provided services are overburdened and under-financed for many reasons, we must address viable solutions to the economic impact placed on these services by illegal immigrants. We must do this in order to continue to supply these services to all county residents. EXHIBIT "1" COUNTYAOMIN18TIIAT10tl Cl:NTIR 1800 PACIPIC HIGHWAY• ROOM 338 SAN DIEGO, CALIPOIINIA 112101 UIIII) 2311•2271 NOT PRINTED OR MAILED AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE ~ I • l ' The Honorable Mary H. Casler Page two June ll, 1986 There is no question that health services must be humanely provided to all who are in need. And, it should also be obvious that our ability to supply services has been diminisheci for reasons other than the impact of illegal immigrants. The questions I have raised --the only questions that are being addrer;sed with respect to the services provided by the county to undocumented aliens --are; "who pays?" and "who benefits?" with regard to public costs and revenues. Immigration policy is a Federal responsibility, and I believe that we must ask the Federal gov~,rnment for reimbursement of costs disproportionately borne by a few local communities while Federal public revenue accounts reap the benefits. studies have indicated that taxes paid by illegal immigrants exceed the demand such individuals make on local services. Unfortunately, the fact is that very little, if any, of these revenues are returned to the county to finance these services. studies also show that approximately 80% of undocumented workers in the u.s. do not file income tax returns, thus allowing what could be termed a windfall in annual public revenues for the state and Federal government. In a 1985 report entitled "Current and Future Effects of Mexican Inunigration in California" the Rand Corporation made the following observation: "Although immigrant's use of services appears to be increasing, their contribution to public revenues exceeds the cost of their service usage, with the exception of educational services. However, local jurisdictions with substantial concentrations of immigrants may well find that they are losing money on services to immigrants, while other parts of the state and nation enjoy an implicit subsidy.11 A similar conclusion was reached by Wayne Cornelius, Leo Chavez and Jorge Castro from ucso•s center for us-Mexican studies. Taken from their report, "Mexican Immigrants and Southern California: A Sul!llTlary of ~urrent I<nowledge", is the following: 11 A major unresolved issue is which level of government should take responsibility for covering unreimhursed medical expenses of undocumented immigrants who lack insurance coverage and who cannot pay all of their bills out-of-pocket. A strong case can be made for federal assumption of these costs, since the largest ,I '' ! Page three portion of taxes paid by the immigrants (nearly 60%) goes to the federal government and is not returned commensurately to the local and state governments most heavily impacted by Mexican immigration. 11 Clearly, studies such as these indicate that illegal immigrants are contributing to our public revenues. The Federal government benefits economically while San Diego county bears a majority of the cost and responsibility. I believe that some of the tax revenues paid by undocumented immigrants should be returned to the communities that must bear the costs of providing needed services. To seek redress on behalf of county residents, I will soon be asking the Board of supervisors to approve the following proposal: l) Establish a San Diego County International Border Commission. The purpose of this organization would be to work jointly with the Mexican government, u.s. Federal authorities, business ind community organizations (assuring representation of Hispanic interests), toward a better understanding and resolution of the shared concerns along our international border. 2) Investigate applying for Impact Asslstance and/or special Federal Legislation which reimburses the County for costs incurreQ for health services and programs made available to undocumented immigrants. 3) Direct the Chief Adminlstrative Office:::, with the assistance of the Border commission, to develop a tracking and monitoring system in which the full cost of County services provided to undocumented immigrants can be identified in a sensitive, confidential and nondiscriminatory manner. 4) Direct County counsel to prepare a litigation strategy which seeks full reimbursements from the Federal c~vernment for the costs absorbed by County government for health programs and services made available to undocumented immigrants as well as any other subsequent costs for other programs and services that may be identified through a tracking system. This strategy would be implemented should other reimbursement methods prove unsuccessful, as they have in the past. communities experiencing similar disproportionate costs, and considering similar methods of cost recovery, would be invited to join San Diego county in such litigation. Page four I ask for your support of this proposal which, hopefully, will resolve an unacceptable situation that requires a few local communities to bear the cost of a matter that benefits the Federal revenues and has bee-r. ideni:..! fied :\S a Federal responsibility. I also look forward to receiving any comments or additional recommendations you might have with regard to the proposal. If you could relay your personal and/or organizational support in the form of a letter to my office, I will be certain to share those sentiments with my colleagues on the Board. such an effort, on your part, will be greatly appreciated. If you would also be willing to make a statement to the Board, please, let my office know so that we can provide you with the date and time of the hearing. Thank you for directing your attention to this time sensitive matter. I look forward to hearing from you soon. SG/rt SUSAN GOLDING Supervisor, District 3