 |
SPECIAL REPORTS |
| |
RIGHTS-US:
Panic Erupts in Wake of New Anti-Immigrant
Law
By Valeria Fernández
PHOENIX, Arizona (IPS) - Arizona community
activists and religious leaders are trying
to mitigate fears over a new law that would
require state employees to denounce
undocumented immigrants.
"There's panic in the community," said
Pastor Magdalena Schwartz from the Disciples
of the Kingdom Free United Methodist Church.
Authorities should realise that the
confusion is endangering public safety, said
Schwartz, because parents are afraid to take
their children to the doctor even when this
law shouldn't affect them.
"This is particularly scary now that we're
in the middle of influenza season," she
added.
Arizona is considered a testing ground for
immigration laws for the rest of the nation.
Over the past five years, Republicans have
enacted legislation that ranges from banning
scholarships for undocumented students to
denying bail to undocumented people charged
with a crime.
HB 2008 – which took effect on Nov. 24 -
requires state, city and any government
employee in Arizona to report to immigration
authorities any undocumented immigrants who
request a public benefit. Government workers
could face up to four months in jail if they
fail to make a report.
The law also gives taxpayers the right to
sue a state or city agency if they believe
the law is not enforced properly.
While the new regulation doesn't affect
emergency healthcare, police and firefighter
services, there's growing concern and
distrust.
"When it comes to my daughter's health, I
won't play. I'll take her to the doctor,"
said José, an undocumented father whose
daughter - a U.S. citizen - is getting
treatment for a liver transplant.
"But I feel between a rock and a hard place.
If I get deported, then how am I going to
care for her?" he told IPS.
Jazmin, an undocumented mother, hasn't taken
her son - again, a U.S. citizen - to see the
doctor in three days because she fears she
could be deported.
She's also afraid of sharing her identity
because she thinks immigration authorities
might come after her since she has a pending
application to renew the state healthcare
insurance of her child.
Recently, she came in contact with a church
group that is helping her.
Pastor Jesús Garza from the Assemblies of
God church, "Centro de Alabanza Judá", has
been aiding dozens of fearful immigrant
families to attend doctor appointments.
Civil rights attorney Daniel Ortega said
pro-immigrant groups are fighting the fear
with information through Spanish media.
"We've come to the conclusion that as long
as people don't admit that they are in the
country illegally, they don't have anything
to worry about," Ortega told IPS. And if
they are undocumented immigrants, then they
know they shouldn't be applying for public
or state benefits, he added.
Government agencies themselves have
questions about how the law should be
implemented. The Arizona Department of
Administration requested a formal opinion
from the Attorney General's Office with over
13 questions about its enforcement.
Thursday, the Department of Economic
Security (DES) that administers several of
the benefits impacted, including food stamps
and healthcare insurance known as AHCCCS,
issued information to the media regarding
procedures the law applies to.
"We're going to continue enforcing state and
federal law like we've been doing," said DES
spokesperson Steve Meissner. "Failure to
produce documents is not admission that
you're in the country illegally."
Supporters of the bill argue it follows the
will of Arizona voters who in 2004 approved
Proposition 200. The impact of the
initiative, aimed at denying public benefits
to undocumented immigrants, was limited to
five programmes by an attorney general's
decision.
"Nothing changed, this is what the voters
wanted," said Republican Rep. Steve
Montenegro. "We're going through difficult
economic moments in Arizona. We're having to
cut for so many different areas. It's only
correct to make sure that people that apply
and receive benefits are qualified to do
so," he added.
Opponents of the law say it hurts the
children of undocumented immigrants whose
parents fear being deported if they request
a benefit for their kids.
"I don't believe that rhetoric, that's what
they always said. But the emergency rooms
empty for a while and they're filled again,"
said Valerie Roller, a member of Riders
U.S.A., a local organisation that opposes
the legalisation of undocumented immigrants.
Roller also believes the children of
undocumented immigrants born in the U.S.
shouldn't be entitled to become citizens.
Lydia Guzmán, president of the pro-immigrant
group Somos America, is receiving concerned
phone calls from social workers. They fear
they could lose their job if they fail to
denounce someone who is illegally in the
country.
There is growing concern about migrants who
are caught in the middle, like Jazmin.
"The help I need is not for me, it's for my
children," the 24-year-old woman told IPS.
A number of legal challenges in the works
might bring the law to a halt.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Supreme Court
dismissed a lawsuit asking for a stay on the
law's implementation filed by the Arizona
League of Cities and Towns. The suit
questioned the way the law was created. The
association is deciding whether to file the
challenge again in a lower court in the next
two weeks.
Other groups like the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) are
getting ready to challenge the substance of
the law.
"MALDEF and I are ready to file a lawsuit in
the event there's a denial of benefits that
shouldn't have been denied, or a prosecution
of an employee who shouldn't have been
prosecuted," said civil rights attorney
Ortega.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
