COSTA MESA : City Scraps Plan to Rewrite Alien Policy

The City Council on Monday rejected a councilman’s attempt to revise a controversial policy banning funding for community groups that serve illegal aliens.

The council was meeting for the first time since Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp issued a directive saying that HUD grant money cannot be withheld from programs that serve illegal aliens.

Kemp issued his orders June 22 in response to an attempt by the city to bar public service groups from receiving federal grant money unless they agreed to not knowingly serve illegal aliens.

In a 3-2 vote, council members rejected Orville Amburgey’s motion to send the policy back to the city staff for revision.

Amburgey said he wanted to see if the wording in the policy could be changed so that organizations that “normally attract” illegal aliens would receive grants from the city’s general fund, while organizations that by their “very nature” do not attract illegal aliens would receive HUD grants.

Mayor Peter F. Buffa, a supporter of the original policy, voted against Amburgey’s motion, saying that federal agencies have given the city a “very clear” message that they would oppose any policy that attempted to discriminate on the basis of legal residency.

“To insist on putting the city on that road would be putting the city in a tremendous liability position and would pit it against three federal government agencies,” Buffa said, referring to opposition to the policy from HUD, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Justice Department.

Earlier in the meeting, Buffa responded to questions from Amburgey on whether HUD would actually withhold funds.

“There’s very little doubt in my mind that they would act to withhold the funds if we enact the original policy,” he said.

But Amburgey, along with Councilman Ed Glasgow, said the council would need to do something to offset anticipated cutbacks in federal and state grants.

Glasgow, referring to the city’s original policy, said: “It will benefit those who need assistance, and there isn’t enough to go around. It is a problem. Mr. Kemp back in Washington is not aware of problems in Los Angeles or Orange County. He has an ivory tower, kind of philosophical way of looking at things.”

Councilwoman Sandra L. Genis said she didn’t see how the city would distinguish between groups known for serving documented aliens and those serving illegal aliens.

“We’ve beat it to the ground long enough,” Genis said.

The city had suspended the policy pending a legal ruling from HUD as to whether it violated anti-discrimination guidelines. In early June, HUD general counsel Frank Keating said cities could implement such a policy without violating anti-discrimination laws, but he was overruled by Kemp’s directive.

Also Monday night, the council was scheduled to meet in closed session to discuss the city’s dayworker ordinance.

On the same day that Kemp issued his directive, an Orange County Superior Court commissioner issued a ruling on a key portion of a city ordinance that prohibits dayworkers from going to certain areas of the city with the intent to solicit work.

Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer, ruling on a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, found that the provision was “overly broad and vague and impinges on expression of speech.”

The ordinance was approved last September after city officials had found three areas that were drawing heavy concentrations of dayworkers.

The ordinance prohibits anyone from being within 300 feet of those sites with the “intent” to solicit employment from the occupant of a motor vehicle. It also prohibits employers’ hiring workers off the street.

Following Bauer’s ruling, Costa Mesa’s city attorney ordered the intent provision of the ordinance suspended immediately. According to the Police Department, 96 arrests had been made under that provision.