DES says it'll enforce ban on aid to illegal immigrants
TUCSON REGION
DES says it'll enforce ban on aid to illegal immigrants
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CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.04.2009
PHOENIX — The Department of Economic Security issued a policy Thursday instructing its workers to enforce a new ban on providing welfare services to those not in this country legally, including a requirement to report illegal applicants to federal immigration officials.
DES spokesman Steve Meissner said the department was already asking for documents proving citizenship or legal residency, but the policy clarifies any ambiguity about what is required and specifies what documents are acceptable and what programs are covered.
Thursday's release of memos, charts, forms and other documents that will be used to implement the law came one day after the state Supreme Court announced it had dismissed a legal challenge to the new enforcement law.
The policy says DES eligibility workers must file a report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement when anyone they are dealing with admits he or she is an illegal immigrant. A report also must be filed when federal immigration officials provide "confirmed documentation" an applicant is not in the country legally, such as the results from computerized checks run by state workers of applicants through the federal government's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
But the policy does not require a report to be filed if someone walks away without benefits because that person did not provide proper documentation.
The move follows legislative approval in August of new laws designed to tighten up who can get public benefits.
A 2004 voter-approved law was billed as closing the door on these benefits to anyone who could not prove legal residency. But a legal interpretation of that initiative by Attorney General Terry Goddard, as implemented by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, said that prohibition applied only to a small number of programs.
Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said the new law, which took effect last week, overrides that opinion and ensures every service paid for by Arizona taxpayers is covered.
In addition to identifying what documents are acceptable as proof of legal residency, the DES policy requires workers to obtain a sworn statement from applicants that documents are true.
But the big change is what Pearce said is an enforceable requirement to report any illegal immigrant who applies for any state or local public benefits.
Any state or local worker who fails to report "discovered violations" of federal immigration law can be prosecuted. Penalty for failing to comply with the law includes up to four months in jail and a $750 fine.
The law also applies that same penalty to any supervisor who is involved.
"We are making it clear to all our staff that they have to follow state and federal law," said DES spokesman Meissner, including enforcement of this new measure. He said the new policy gives "clear guidance" to eligibility workers what constitutes a "discovered violation" of federal immigration law and what they are supposed to do about it.
Meissner said the new law clears up some "ambiguity" about what benefits require proof of legal presence in this country.
For example, he said there were questions whether someone needed to provide such proof to collect unemployment benefits, which they do.
Despite that ambiguity, Meissner continued, DES eligibility workers had asked for documentation from applicants for these payments. But the new law, he said, erases any doubts the DES can demand the documents and turn away those who do not provide them.
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