Santa Barbara County Joins Ranks in the Illegal Immigrant Debacle
Grand Jury Report “Effects on Immigration in Santa Barbara County.”As the result of its lack of knowledge about the immigrant population size, Santa Barbara County cannot adequately assess the adverse or positive affects of immigration or the needs of immigrants, specifically the undocumented, in the county, according to a Grand Jury report recently released.
“I think, like all reports, it’s always worthwhile to consider the information, but the response that the county provided is sufficient and the county will not be pursuing this any further,” said Third District Supervisor, Brooks Firestone.
The Grand Jury is an investigatory body created for the protection of society and called for by the Fifth Amendment. It offers this appraisal, among others, in a newly released report entitled, “Effects of Immigration in Santa Barbara County: A Balanced Assessment.” The report along with four findings and four recommendations was presented to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
The board of expressed its position and contend that immigration is a federal issue. Consequently, the board will not be implementing any of the recommendations unless directed to do so by the federal government.
“The grand jury report said something’s going on and we should know about it and we replied that ‘yes’ something is probably going on but we don’t have the policy or ability to do anything,” Firestone said.
Though First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal shared some of Firestone’s sentiment about the report, he called the report an inadequate and unfinished assessment.
“I think the report was an attempt to highlight the lack of comprehensive federal policy on immigration and how that plays out on the local level, and how we don’t have the responsibility to address the issue or the funds, but at the same time they recognize that we should be proactive in monitoring and compiling information on this population,” he said.
“But I think it was very limited in its scope and didn’t capture the full breadth of the issue, as much as we are facing this issue as a result of federal policy, there are also some social challenges in this population. The report did not really highlight the positive impacts this population has had on certain industries.”
The report focuses on the majority of immigrants who are low-income, non-English speaking and those that have migrate here from Mexico, Central and South America. According to the Grand Jury, there is not a clear picture as to the actual number of illegal immigrant due to inaccurate reporting both random and systematic. But, based on government estimates, a range of 25,000 to 75,000 is widely accepted.
Projections indicate that the immigration population in Santa Barbara County is likely to grow, but at a slower rate. In 2000, the total population in Santa Barbara County was 400,000, whites totaled 228,900, Hispanics at 137,900 and 34,100 split between other ethnic groups. By 2020, Hispanics will be the largest ethnic group in the county, according to the California Department of Finance, mostly due to an increase in fertility rates, rather than migratory patterns. According to the report, “The Grand Jury recognizes that even though immigration is a federal government issue, there are many measures which Santa Barbara County can take to improve the situation.”
Despite the Grand Jury’s contention that steps could be taken by the county, board members say the county doesn’t have the resources to implement any extra policies.
“Clearly, when you consider that local government already has limited funds and resources to take care of our local needs, [this recommendation] doesn’t pan out, this is a federal responsibility. We just don’t have the resources to provide a comprehensive policy for immigration as the grand jury suggested,” Carbajal said. The Grand Jury’s first finding is that there is no effective system to measure the effects of illegal and recommends that supervisors find a way to develop and report the effects of immigration. The second finding states that the absence of data makes it difficult to plan the development of county infrastructure and public services, and that the supervisors should consult with experts to obtain data on the immigrant population. The third finding is that county agencies already have ways to measure the status of those who apply for services and recommends that the Supervisors direct agencies to use these tools. The last finding is that housing is limited for immigrant workers, especially illegal immigrants and the supervisors should find housing alternatives for them. The supervisors state that this recommendation is already in development.
“Employers are generally not accountable, apparently because of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy prevalent in the country,” the report cites. The Grand Jury suggests that immigrants, who mostly perform low paying jobs, increase the demand for affordable housing. The city of Santa Maria estimates the median farm worker wage in 2004 was $7.80 per-hour. Affordable housing falls short of the demand. Housing and Urban Development reports that almost 4,000 people are on a now closed waiting list. The Grand Jury says that immigrants are forced to cram into apartments crowding and congesting urban areas. “I think we’ve already dealt with that issue,” Carbajal said. “So these estimates that the Grand Jury came up with are outside the fence and our legal planning tool is the U.S. census and not this report, which already compensates for this population to the best way it can.”
Because immigrants comprise the majority of the billion dollar agricultural workforce in the county, and two-thirds are said to be undocumented workers. The Grand Jury theorizes that private employers face unique challenges when hiring immigrants and historically they have not been bound to take action if a Social Security card or other document is found to be invalid.
“The ag community is one of the lowest paying wage sectors in our county, I think that the ag industry will tell you its fears, regarding this issue,” Carbajal said. “It knows full well where it would be without the cheap labor.
The Report, however, states that all public organizations are authorized to inquire into the immigration status of any individual requesting services. “Some services such as education and public health must be required regardless of citizenship status so there is no incentive for checking status and no penalty for not checking status,” according to the report.
The Grand Jury suggests that these public organizations adopt a more stringent program because said program would help to accurately assess the population receiving these services and therefore provide data that can be useful to help in the county planning process.
This would also include county health care, which serves documented and undocumented people with medical care, a service the cost approximately $4 million per year.
Dr. Cynthia Bowers, executive director of Santa Barbara Neighborhood clinics said that the non-profit agency is not required by law to ask about the immigration status of their patients. But, Bowers added that she believes that discouraging immigrants from seeking care based for fear of deportation could result in increased costs.
Carbajal said, “It’s all supply and demand, there are scholars and social scientist that can answer if it all balances out, [the benefit of cheap labor or the cost of social services] but the report doesn’t touch on that comprehensive perspective.”
Though the Board of Supervisors agreed with the Grand Jury’s findings, it originally said it felt its recommendations were unwarranted and would not be implemented. However, it did redraft the response and presented the revision at its Aug. 28 meeting.
“Something really strange happened on this one,” said Fourth District Supervisor Joni Gray. “The staff wrote its response on this, and we addressed that and informed the staff that we were interested in redrafting the response because we didn’t feel we responded the way we wanted to.
“We agree that we have a responsibility and know that Immigration lies with the federal government but we will do part.”
For more information regarding the Grand Jury’s report, “Effects on Immigration in Santa Barbara County,” or to view the document and the Board of Supervisors’ response upload the Aug. 28 agenda at www.countyofsb.org.