L.A. Clinic Offers Care for Mayas/Karla Saia

Due in large part to tenacious outreach efforts, Los Angeles’ Clinica Romero is serving a growing Maya immigrant population, a group which has traditionally been relatively alienated from Western and institutionalized health care.

For the last eight years Idalia Xuncax, herself a Maya, has grown the clinic’s Maya clientele from a handful to approximately 700, and in doing so has brought preventive and routine care to a group leery of doctors. Further, she has learned to manage care for these immigrants – generally from Guatemala – in terms of other cultural and historical healing practices the community employs.

The clinic is receives funding from private donors, County, State and Federal Funds. As a result of the work by Ms. Xuncax and her colleagues, the Federal Government has agreed to fund the clinic’s healthcare research into Mayas in Los Angeles.

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mayan2apr02,1,7177882.story

Budget and Immigration Issues Collide/ Jackie Cubas

As Republican lawmakers have proposed a reduction of benefits for illegal immigrants to save money, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says it’s a “big mistake” to blame illegal immigrants for the state's $8 billion budget gap.

This week Assembly Republicans promoted almost two dozen bills they think will reduce the "negative impact" that illegal immigrants have on the state budget and border security. The proposals range from requiring individuals to show proof of citizenship when receiving state-funded benefits to repealing a law enabling undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition.

While Assembly Republicans like Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, claim “There's a cost associated with illegal immigration whether we're in a deficit mode or not;” Democrats assert otherwise. “The fact of the matter is, immigrants have a positive impact on the economy and the budget, and they're essential to California's prosperity,” said Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. Legislative Democrats have vowed to block the GOP legislative package and accused Republicans of using illegal immigrants as scapegoats.

Citing a Federation for American Immigration Reform study released in 2004, Assembly Republicans said illegal immigrants cost the state $9 billion annually. The group estimated that California spends an estimated $7.7 billion alone on education for undocumented students. This estimate was disputed by Dowell Myers, a University of Southern California demographer, who said it is difficult to quantify the full economic impact of immigrants in California. He asserts it is hard to differentiate between legal and illegal workers and that immigrants provide an economic benefit by filling labor shortages in various occupations.

Link: http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/815068.html

Immigrants Incarcerated at Lower Levels Than Natives/ Lisa Sweet

A new study from PPIC states that criminal activity among immigrant groups is lower than native born Americans. The study says that when comparing groups of incarcerated males U.S. and foreign-born and comparing lower levels of education are less likely to be in jail or prison.

This is also true of illegal immigrants and for both populations at national levels of incarceration as well. Some inferences that can be drawn from this study are that immigrants are indeed coming to this nation for work and a chance at prosperity.

Link: http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/02/immigrants_incl.html