Posted on 11/06/2003 1:37:32 AM PST by sarcasm
María Armijos would love to work. That, after all, was the reason she left Ecuador 12 years ago full of hope for the future.
At the time she could not have known that in a few years, epilepsy would preclude her from holding a job and force her to seek desperately needed help.
The fact that her English is poor would prove an almost insurmountable obstacle to getting the aid she needed - and to which she had a right.
"HRA [Human Resources Administration] has discriminated against me for years," Armijos said. "I never received translation services, and the caseworker mistreated me. They rejected my application two times, and I felt a lot of anxiety because I never understood what was happening with my case. It even got to the point that I had an epileptic seizure in the welfare center."
Like Armijo, thousands of people are denied benefits because they can't speak English.
Feng Lian, a social worker at the Union Health Care Center of the garment workers union UNITE, said that she always tells Chinese-speaking union members she refers to the Human Resources Administration to make sure they bring along someone who speaks English. Otherwise, she said, their chances of getting help are slim.
Which is why Intro 38 (the Equal Access to Health and Human Services Bill) was presented to the City Council on Sept. 18 by John Liu (D-Flushing) and Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan). The bill is sponsored by 41 other Council members, including Speaker Gifford Miller and General Welfare Committee Chairman Bill DeBlasio.
Intro 38 mandates that the Human Resources Administration, the Department of Employment and the Department of Health provide free written translation and oral interpretation services.
A rather modest bill, Intro 38 is not trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it seeks to ensure access to city services and bring New York in compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Four years ago, the city was found in violation of federal civil rights law because of this issue.
The Justice Department and Health and Human Services have said that failure to give language help in federally funded, city-administered programs violates the act.
"This bill will ensure that nonEnglish-speaking New Yorkers have equal access to services and benefits, regardless of language barriers," DeBlasio said. "It will help, for instance, to make sure that low-income New Yorkers who may not be able to speak English can put food on their family's table and get health care for their children."
The mayor, though, came out against Intro 38 in his radio program last Friday, saying it would be too costly. Yet the Council estimated the cost at $500,000 the first year and a million the second - less than the price of three hi-tech subway cars.
Actually, in contrast to what Bloomberg said, Intro 38 makes good financial sense. By giving more people access to programs such as Food Stamps and Medicaid, it would bring into the city millions of federal dollars.
"Mayor Bloomberg is always walking around seeking the support of the immigrant community," said Barcilides Matos, a disabled Dominican-American who has been to hell and back at Human Resource Administration offices. "Yet when we need him to back us up and respond to our problems, he is nowhere to be found."
Good financial sense??? And just where does the yo-yo think those Federal Dollars come from? God ain't sending it like manna from heaven Bub...
We don't but there are reasons to believe so. First the newspaper's employee has to be aware of the illegal immigration controversy and IMO would have pointed out her legal status. Second, if you google for Intro 38 you'll find a plethora of these stories from all immigrant groups and they make no distinction bewteen legal and "undocumented" with their support of Intro 38 and demands for services.
Third, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's executive order 34 reversed policy and allows city employees to report undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. He caught a lot of hell for that. Fourth, is "The mayor, though, came out against Intro 38 in his radio program last Friday, saying it would be too costly." I am sure he said more than that. (A liberal saying "it would be too costly?!") The mayor has made his feeeeeelings known about public services and ILLEGAL aliens. In the old days people here legally were required to have the resources to care for themselves. I think it's still true.
The real solution is to give potential emigrants reasons to stay home. IMO that means regime changes as well as things like NAFTA. For example, I believe it's true that corrupt Mexico has as many billionaires as England though of course Mexico has more people still remaining in Mexico.
María Armijos would love to work. That, after all, was the reason she left Ecuador 12 years ago full of hope for the future.
She couldn't work in Ecudor?
force her to seek desperately needed help.
Seeking help is entirely different from demanding welfare. Help may be given or not. Welfare uses the police power of the state to take the bread out of the mouths of the children of those who work for a living and give it to those who "need" for a living
The fact that her English is poor would prove an almost insurmountable obstacle to getting the aid she needed
So learn English. Last I heard the USA used to be english speaking if you can't or more likely won't learn the language then get the hell back to where you came from.
- and to which she had a right.
This is the most irritating and perverse part of this whole communist wad of BS. What "right" does anyone have to the property of someone else? IF she makes bad decision or for that matter if she has bad luck does this mean that everyone else must work that much harder? Charity is one thing, but charity is voluntary. Welfare is receiving stolen goods that the recipients are too cowardly or lazy to steal for themselves, so they get the government to do it for them.
"HRA [Human Resources Administration] has discriminated against me for years," Armijos said. "I never received translation services, and the caseworker mistreated me. They rejected my application two times, and I felt a lot of anxiety because I never understood what was happening with my case. It even got to the point that I had an epileptic seizure in the welfare center."
Then like I said before get the hell back the Ecuador lady. If you "love to work" (yeah right) then spend some time working. Apparently she wasn't too incapacitated to make a career of collecting plundered loot from the taxpayers
Like Armijo, thousands of people are denied benefits because they can't speak English.
Then f.....g learn English or go back to the wonderful culture that spawned you.
The bill is sponsored by 41 other Council members, including Speaker Gifford Miller and General Welfare Committee Chairman Bill DeBlasio.
Every one of these people is plundering the taxpayer and looking for a way to get more people on the plunder bandwagon. Don't speak english, no problem we'll rob some hardworking slob for you and make sure that your health is taken care of. What he can't pay for his family? tought sh!t Who's more important some needy wanty immigrant who brings nothing to this country except another body to add to the welfare roles or the people who support themselves and the vast parasitic government class? No brainer - the parasites of course
... provide free written translation and oral interpretation services.
Oh, "free," I guess that meant that the government employees providing this are going to work for nothing. Oh it doesn't? Well I guess by "free" they mean that it will be paid for by the taxpayers again.
There is so much more, but I have other things to do. Ithaca is no longer the city of Evil. New York is.
Amen.
Freepmail me if you wish to be removed from or added to this list!
That's nothing. The company I work for frequently hosts depositions in our conference room. We've taken the depositions of witnesses who've been living in America 20 or 30 years and still need a translater because they do not know a word of English! Sometimes three generations of a family are living here, and none know English. We make it so darned easy for them, with Spanish language television, Spanish language ATMs, government service in Spanish, etc., that there is no need for them to learn English at all. In fact, people often say to me, "You've lived in LA how long, and you don't know Spanish?!" The burden is on us Americans to learn Spanish. It is unreasonable and "insensitive" to ask why an immigrant doesn't know English, however long the immigrant has been here.
Sound backwards? Well, it's coming to your area soon, if it's not already there.
The perfect Democrat/RINO voter.
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