Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles

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Press Statement

For Immediate Release Contact: Anike Tourse, 213.353.1339,
January 8, 2008 310.622.3637 cell, anike@chirla.org

Antonovich’s Analysis is Inaccurate at Best

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich releases misleading information
regarding immigrant allowance for health and public services.
Los Angeles – The Los Angeles County released a statement indicating that undocumented immigrants received
over $37 million in welfare and food stamp allocations in November 2007 as announced by Los Angeles County
Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant
Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), issued the following statement in response:
“Immigrants use less health care, receive less public benefits, and must deal with significant restrictions when it
comes to receiving federal support. In 1996 the Clinton Administration established the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act which restricts legal residents and prevents undocumented from
obtaining federally funded support, such as the welfare that Mr. Antonovich refers to. In 2005 the Bush
Administration signed the Deficit Reductions Act which indicates that anyone who seeks Medi-Cal must
provide proof of citizenship. The endlessly chanted claim that immigrants exploit the emergency health
care system is conjecture at best, particularly as research points that communities with high rates of
emergency room usage are not the same communities with high immigrant populations (Peter Cunningham,
Health Affairs, July ’06). What the county statement fails to clarify is that the support referred to (food
stamps, welfare) legally goes to American born children, as is the legal right of all American citizens. I
would imagine this is a right we all have an interest in protecting, unless Mr. Antonovich is suggesting that
the children of immigrants will not play a sizeable role in our nation’s future.”
“Immigrants are working people and consumers in this country. Not only do immigrants contribute to the
economic, cultural, and social fabric of the United States, they are also legally bound to pay taxes that fund
public services. Mr. Antonovich’s frame that immigrants drain American resources is tired, unfounded, and
inaccurate rhetoric as evidenced by his lack of specifics and gross generalizations. For shame that Mr.
Antonovich not only misleads the American public about immigrant exploitation of resources, but fails to
highlight immigrant contribution, such as the fact that immigrants pay over $4 billion in state taxes and more
than $30 billion in federal taxes annually (U.S. Census data and Employment Development Dept. of CA data
from 2005).”