September 4, 1996
Rio Grande Valley's Poor Immigrants Worry About Welfare Law
Related Article
If Immigrants Lose U.S. Aid, Burden May Shift (July 29) By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK
cALLEN, Texas -- Here on the Texas-Mexico border, officials have long had an emergency plan for the occasional hurricane that rampages through this tropical stretch of the Rio Grande Valley. But now they need an emergency response to another disturbance that is bearing down on this area and others across the country: the new federal welfare legislation.
In poverty-plagued Hidalgo County, one of every 12 to 15 people -- county and state officials are still trying to reconcile their figures -- is a legal immigrant who stands to lose food stamps next year under the welfare overhaul signed by President Clinton on Aug. 22. The law aims to save $55 billion in federal spending over the next six years, in large part by cutting benefits to legal residents who are not U.S. citizens.
In sheer numbers, places like El Paso, Houston and New York have more legal immigrants facing welfare cuts. But measured proportionally, Census Bureau statistics indicate that no area in the country would be harder hit by the new law's cuts on immigrant benefits than this part of the border.
And the new law is causing anxiety for thousands of people here and threatening to drain millions of dollars from a county that is already one of the poorest in the United States.
And while the general intent of the law is to prod more people into work, local officials and people who work in relief agencies in Hidalgo County doubt that it will produce the intended effect here because the unemployment rate is 18.6 percent, more than three times the state and national averages.
All told, more than 32,000 legal immigrants will stop receiving food stamps by next summer under the new welfare law. Combined with a smaller number of elderly and disabled people who stand to lose Supplemental Security Income benefits, the county expects an overall loss of $18 million to $31 million annually.
"That is simply a huge amount to this economy," said Paul M. Vazaldua Jr., the official in charge of coordinating a response to the changes in welfare policy. So far that response has mainly consisted of drafting pleas to President Clinton and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. "We are getting hammered," Vazaldua said.
Clinton has said repeatedly that he signed the welfare measure despite grave reservations about the severity of cuts it imposes on legal immigrants, who in many cases have lived in the United States for years and paid taxes. Many are awaiting citizenship.
And though the president has pledged to try to soften the cuts if he is re-elected, they are a major part of the budget savings under the new law, and it is unclear whether he could succeed in getting Congress to go along with any changes.
Bush said last week that he is opposed to plans to cut off benefits for elderly and disabled legal immigrants.
"We ought to take care of these people in the state of Texas," he said. But he has not yet formally proposed a way to do so.
Still, as a general rule, the immediate impact of the new law is less crisis than confusion. The law gives the state up to one year to go through a complicated process of "recertifying" legal immigrants and determining whether there are mitigating factors -- like a disability or long work history -- that could allow them to keep their benefits.
So people here wait to see what will happen. Some of those most directly affected by the cuts seem to be almost fatalistic about them. Between the cuts being imposed by faraway Washington and the ripple effects felt along the border of problems in the Mexican economy, there is a widespread feeling here that the Rio Grande Valley is under siege.
"We're on quicksand between two countries here," said Ruben Cavazos Sr., the owner of Ruben's Grocery, a market that has been something of an institution for more than 20 years in a poor neighborhood in South McAllen. More than half the customers routinely buy their groceries there with food stamps.
"We've been here for a long time, and our customers are loyal," said Cavazos' son, Ruben Jr., a manager at the store. He said he, his parents and a brother who also helps run the store are deeply worried about the effect of the cuts on both their customers and the family business.
"And you think, well, people will always have to eat," he continued. "That seems like a basic thing. But what if they simply have no way to pay for their food?"
Among customers at the store, feelings about the impending cuts range from intense trepidation to an almost blithe, distant awareness that maybe something happened in Washington recently that may or may not have an impact here someday.
"We haven't gotten any kind of letter or anything like that from the government yet, so I'm not too worried," said Maria Redondo, 56, whose retired husband, a Mexican citizen who lived in McAllen off and on for 15 years working various jobs, and receives more than $400 a month in Social Security benefits.
Under the terms of the new welfare law, those payments could be cut off unless her husband can produce documentation showing that he worked in the United States during 40 different three-month periods, or that he is disabled, according to officials with the Texas Department of Human Services in Austin.
"The whole thing is like a hurricane," Mrs. Redondo said of the welfare law with a small laugh. "It may look like it's blowing this way, but it could turn around and blow someplace else and no one will be hurt. That's what a lot of people are hoping."
But other customers at Ruben's who are facing cuts are clearly worried.
"I've heard they will take this away," said 24-year-old Flor Esthela Cantu, a legal resident, holding the electronic "Lone Star" card that is now used in place of the usual coupons by most food stamp recipients in Texas.
Pointing to her children, 16-month-old Sandra Leticia and 3-year-old Gustavo, she added: "Things are just so tight already, I don't know how we would be able to take care of them. I really don't. But we would have to try to adjust."
Even though her husband, who also is a legal resident, has found generally steady work as a carpenter, and Mrs. Cantu occasionally makes money by selling food she cooks in her home, the couple is still living well below the poverty line and has received monthly food stamp benefits in recent months ranging from $66 to $313.
Many people said the new welfare law would make them redouble their efforts to become citizens, which would allow them to requalify for some benefits.
"But it's very expensive," said Susana Herrera, 49, who came across the border from Matamoros 11 years ago and worked sporadically as a field picker. She ticked off the costs -- $95 for the application, $5 for fingerprints, $12 for photographs -- and seemed daunted by the prospect of ever having that much cash.
Thelma M. Garza, executive director of the United Way in Hidalgo County, said an umbrella group of 55 relief agencies had already began meeting in anticipation of a growing demand for food from the indigent.
The Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, a nonprofit group partly financed by the United Way, already dispenses about 200,000 meals a year. Asked how much she thought the demand would increase, Ms. Garza replied: "That's simply a huge question mark right now. But absolutely, we do expect it to grow."
Juan Antonio Flores, a policy planner for the Texas Department of Human Services' Office of Immigration and Refugee Affairs, said the state is still sifting through an interpretation of the new law. But its preliminary estimate is that about 187,000 immigrants now in Texas legally will lose food stamps; 22,000 will lose welfare, and 53,160, all elderly or disabled, will be cut off from Supplemental Security Income.
The food stamp cuts will hit hardest here in Hidalgo County, he said, with about 8 percent of county residents losing the benefits. By contrast, about 5 percent of El Paso County's 590,000 people will be cut off, as will 1 percent of the 2.8 million people in Houston and surrounding Harris County.
In Hidalgo, the economic impact will be felt throughout the county, said Marcia Kinsey, an analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an Austin-based research organization that monitors issues affecting low-income Texans.
"Absolutely -- food stamps are not a vague public benefit," she said. "Whether they wind up at a supermarket or a mom and pop store on the corner, they are dollars that go directly into a community."
Other Places of InterestThe Use of SSI and Other Welfare Programs by Immigrants, from The Urban Institute Immigrants and Welfare Use, from The Federation For American Immigration Reform
Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
