Committees Ad hOC Committees

Recommendations 4

• R06-67
  COMMISSION A NEXUS STUDY TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES RELATED TO FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC FACILITIES, FIRE FACILITIES, ROADS, BRIDGES, TRAFFIC SIGNALS, CONSERVATION/LAND BANKS, REGIONAL PARKS, REGIONAL MULTI-PURPOSE TRAILS, FLOOD CONTROL, AND LIBRARY BOOKS WITHIN UNINCORPORATED AREAS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. AD hOC COMMITTEE ON IllEGAl IMMIGRANTS Brad Kuiper, Chairman Mel Abeyta Susan Brewster Arden Fritz Tom Hale Catherine Meister Mark Taylor AD HOC COMMITTEE ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BACKGROUND Over the past 12 to 18 months, the issue of the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States has become one of great concern. Billions of dollars are being spent annually by Federal, State and local governments. Our hospitals, schools and many other Human Services are being impacted. Our jails are overcrowded, and a large percentage of the space is being occupied by illegal immigrants. The legal citizens of the United States are expressing their concern for illegal immigration in a much stronger fashion than previously. Last year’s Grand Jury Foreman used his statement section of the Final Report to express his concerns for the problems associated with illegal immigrants, and urged the County to investigate and ascertain the cost burden to the County taxpayers of providing services to illegal immigrants. FINDINGS At the beginning of the 2005-2006 Grand Jury’s term, this year’s Foreman requested that subcommittees request information from all County departments about the services, and costs of such services, they provide to illegal immigrants. The following are the results of this effort. 1. There are 58 departments/agencies in the County 2. 17 of these departments/agencies provide services only to other departments 3. 10 departments have definitely stated they provide services to illegal immigrants 4. 10 more departments have stated that they “probably” or “maybe” provide services to illegal immigrants 72 5. Of these 20 departments who provide services to illegal immigrants, 10 of them stated that some or all of expenses for illegal immigrant services are reimbursed by the State or Federal government (usually at a much later date) 6. 6 departments provided an annual cost estimate to provide services to illegal immigrants: Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) $8,950,000 100% County Cost Children’s Services $316,232 55% County Cost (Child Care, Medical, (Does not include Social Worker ($173,683.00) Foster Care, Preschool Services, case management services) Child Welfare, Food Stamps) Probation Department $773,300 100% County Cost Public Defender $9,000,000 100% County Cost District Attorney $9,000,000 100% County cost Sheriff/Coroner $11,000,000 100% County cost (Jail Cost only) Estimated costs for just these six departments for one year amount to $38,280,236, just for San Bernardino County. The costs for illegal immigrant services provided by the other 14 departments who have no idea of the amount, would add substantially to this cost. There are additional costs for cities to provide services. Obviously, the costs to the Federal and State governments have to be enormous. Only the Superintendent of Schools stated they have been told they cannot ask about a student’s legal status. They site Proposition 187 and Plyler vs Doe, Id. However, these are both applicable only in the case of denial of services. Within the 33 school districts in San Bernardino County are 14,000 classrooms, each with 20 or more non-English speaking students. The Grand Jury recognizes that until the Federal and State governments make changes in the laws, the County will have to continue to provide these services, and the taxpayers will have to continue to pay. However, if all states, counties, and local governments start tracking and publicizing the costs to provide these services to illegal immigrants, the Federal and State governments will be confronted with the facts and actual dollar costs, they may finally take action to solve this issue. RECOMMENDATIONS
• R06-68
  THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS IMMEDIATELY REQUIRE ALL COUNTY DEPARTMENTS/AGENCIES TO START TRACKING THE COSTS OF PROVIDING SERVICES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
• R06-69
  COUNTY COUNSEL PROVIDE A LEGAL OPINION TO DETERMINE HOW TO TABULATE THE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITHIN THE COUNTY, WITHOUT INTENT TO DENY SERVICES.
• R06-70
  THE COUNTY COMMENCE PUBLISHING AND FORWARDING THE ANNUAL COSTS OF PROVIDING SERVICES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO THE MEDIA AND ALL LEGISLATORS WHO REPRESENT SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, AT BOTH THE STATE AND FEDERAL LEVEL, AND TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. 74