Costa Mesa Urges U.S. Census to Count Illegal Aliens

Costa Mesa, which recently tried to deny city money to social service groups that help illegal aliens, approved a resolution Monday night urging that all people be counted in the next census--regardless of citizenship.

If illegal aliens are excluded from the next census, as threatened by recent congressional action, cities that receive federal money based on population could find themselves shortchanged.

The threat of losing such money prompted Costa Mesa and some other Southern California cities to oppose the exclusion of illegals.

The vote was 3 to 2, with Councilmen Ed Glagow and Orville Amburgey dissenting. Both had supported a policy, passed in August, to deny city money to service groups that help illegals.

The council amended the policy in September to make it voluntary after the Department of Housing and Urban Development advised that it might violate federal anti-discrimination guidelines. HUD is now reviewing that policy.

“We should not count the people if they are here illegally,” Amburgey said. “They have no status.”

Amburgey added that he understood that a lower population count “would create a financial hardship” in terms of lost federal dollars, but he said it would be dishonest to count people who are not citizens.

Mayor Peter F. Buffa had supported the August policy. He said his support of a comprehensive census count was not inconsistent.

Because the city provides such services as police, fire and street repair to all people regardless of status, Buffa said, it should receive all the federal money to which it is entitled.

But he conceded that in a “very limited sense, you could say there’s some inconsistency” because the city did try to withhold federal money from illegal aliens.

Critics find it ironic that Costa Mesa, which has cracked down on illegal aliens in the past, now wants to protect the benefits it gains from their presence.

Jean Forbath, executive director of the Share Our Selves group, said: “It’s rather inconsistent philosophy.” SOS, a nonprofit group serving the poor, is facing a cutback in city support.

Forbath had earlier argued against the policy of denying community grants to groups such as hers if they aid illegals.