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Where’s the Support? Benefits May Vanish

Two state safety net programs for immigrants in jeopardy

By Janet Ng

Thanh Mai Truong and her husband emigrated from Vietnam to the United States hoping for freedom and looking forward to spending the rest of their lives with their children. Instead of enjoying her golden years, though, Truong, 70, struggles to pay for basic needs — and faces the possibility of homelessness.

California Governor Gray Davis.

Truong wouldn’t have to worry if Governor Gray Davis had included the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) into next year’s budget. But he didn’t. Now, immigrant rights groups are fighting to see these programs saved from their sunset date of September 30.

CFAP and CAPI were created in response to the 1996 federal welfare law that withdrew benefits from immigrants who entered the United States on or after August 22, 1996.

“[Governor Davis] can send a message to Washington … but he remains silent,” Amy Marinacci, an analyst for the California Food Policy Advocates, said.

The two programs passed California’s Senate and Assembly budget committees, and are now in the conference committee, where they will be revised before being sent back by June 15 to the Senate and Assembly for a final vote. From there, the legislative budget is given to the governor, who must sign his approval by June 30.

To be implemented permanently, CFAP will cost some $5 million, and CAPI $29 million.

Speaking for the governor, Sandy Harrison, assistant director of the Department of Finance, explained: “[CFAP and CAPI] were intended at the time to be short-term programs. They’ve been extended for a couple years, but this year, we have a downturn of revenue, so now the programs are still up in the air.”

The deletion of CFAP will affect some 8,000 people and that of CAPI will affect roughly 1,000 in the state. “We are very worried … children may go hungry … seniors use the money to pay for basic necessities,” said Patty Diaz, a spokesperson from the Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network.

Governor Davis has included funding for those immigrants who are eligible for benefits and who immigrated before August 1996. Other legal immigrants, who arrived after that or who qualified for benefits later because of a change in circumstances, will be affected by the deletion of CAPI and CFAP, however.

“San Francisco has an extremely large and diverse immigrant population whose members contribute substantially to this state’s economy and cultural life,” Mayor Willie Brown stated in a letter to Governor Davis, urging him to support these two programs.

Approximately 11,000 people statewide currently receive benefits from the CAPI program. Of those, 8,935, the great majority, are API.

“Numbers are not the whole picture,” cautioned Isabel Alegria, a policy analyst for the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative. “There are many more who could receive benefits, but don’t because they came after 1996.”

Advocates for the Assembly bill, which includes funding for these assistance programs and the deletion of their sunset date, stressed that CFAP and CAPI help those who work and pay taxes — immigrants who entered legally and should be treated as such.

Wilma Chan

“[The programs] are a lifeline for a very vulnerable population of people, especially Asian communities because they have many legal immigrants,” said Megan Wong, a legislative aid to Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, one of the principal authors of the bill.

The legislation also received strong bipartisan support. “Some say that [immigrants] shouldn’t receive welfare because they shouldn’t immigrate unless they have family to support them. We understand that circumstances change, and people here don’t want to see them suffer,” commented Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Orange County.

He added: “My county has a large population of Vietnamese, and I want to take care of those I represent.”