In the poorest county in Colorado, where most of the residents speak Spanish in their homes, the tough laws designed to toss illegal immigrants off welfare went into effect on Tuesday.
And nothing happened.
Costilla County’s median annual household income hovers around $22,000, making a high percentage of families eligible for public assistance.
But verifying immigration status has been standard operating procedure there for as long as anyone can remember.
“Anybody who was not eligible for assistance was not receiving it,” said Ramona Archuleta, supervisor of eligibility technicians in the county Department of Social Services. “It didn’t happen. We have always verified that information.”
So implementing the new get-tough state laws was no biggie at the quaint county offices in San Luis. For the most part, the new procedures meant that the eligibility techs had to make more copies for their files.
Big whoop.
That was pretty much the case statewide, said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. The story of the momentous Aug. 1 crackdown was a yawner.
“The point that has been missed in this whole discussion is that we’ve always checked for citizenship where citizenship is a requirement for a program,” McDonough said.
Social Security numbers routinely were checked against the database at the Social Security Administration, which also provides demographic information to assist in identifying fraud.
“If a 35-year-old man gives us the Social Security number of a 2-year-old female, we know that,” she said, and the application is denied.
“Somehow there’s a perception that we’re not asking anybody for anything,” McDonough said. “People seem to think somebody can walk in and say, ‘Hi, my name’s Ted, I’m poor and I need money,’ and we just hand him money. But that’s not the case. Applying for public assistance has never been a simple process.”
It’s true that the new laws raise the verification standards to a higher level. They require applicants to produce more documents certifying their identity and to sign affidavits saying they are here legally. But applicants long have had to deliver mountains of documentation.
“They’ve always had to produce information about their income, their assets, their employment, Social Security numbers, identification. It’s very common for people who apply for benefits not to have all the necessary documents the first time and to come back again and again,” McDonough said.
That’s not to say that absolutely every person receiving assistance in Colorado is a bona fide legal resident. Some surely have gamed the system and, in some cases, they’ll continue to get away with it – especially in federal programs.
The largest public welfare program – food assistance – is a federal mandate, exempt from the new state laws.
“Federal law prohibits states from requiring any more specific identification than is set out under the federal guidelines,” McDonough said. It’s up to the federal government to crack down on people who abuse these programs.
State officials hope to have hard data on the impact of the new policies over the next several months.
“Our intention is to quantify the effect these laws will have on our programs using the Colorado Benefits Management System,” McDonough said.
The impact could be negligible.
So those who envision thousands of welfare recipients fleeing the state and taxpayers recovering millions likely will be disappointed.
Especially if they’re looking for it to happen in the poorest county in Colorado.
The 2000 census reported that only 6.9 percent of Costilla County residents were foreign born. Most have been U.S. citizens for generations, struggling to make a living in the oldest surviving settlement in the state.
They’re here to stay.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
