By LESTER CHANG
The El Camino Hospital District Board of Directors has voted to withhold a $16,700 grant to a Los Altos-based organization following complaints that the group used the money to help illegal aliens find work.
At a special meeting on Jan. 24, several board members said they supported an employment program started last April by the St. Joseph Worker Center for Day Laborers.
But they said they had to withhold the funds to comply with a state law.
At least 20 of the 50 people attending the meeting agreed. Some threatened to sue the hospital district if it didn't follow the law.
"The situation is illegal, and the board has funded it. Basically, that is aiding and abetting, and we definitely will sue you," said Joseph LaVelle, who attended the meeting.
The law requires the St. Joseph center to provide information about whether the people its serves are U.S. citizens, said Chip Lion, an attorney representing the district.
St. Joseph officials said their goal is to help the poor, regardless of their immigration status or country of origin.
Job Lopez, a board member with St. Joseph, said his board will have to meet to discuss whether it will provide the information the hospital seeks.
"But we aren't going to compromise the policy of the center, which is to help human beings, whether they are legal or illegal," Lopez said.
But Lion said St. Joseph must comply with the law because it has a contract with the district.
Representatives for St. Joseph said that isn't the case and that St. Joseph merely accepted funds for a program.
Since the start of the program last April, St. Joseph has registered 432 people for work, officials said.
More than a year ago, the hospital district board earmarked $65,000 for the group. So far, two-thirds of that money has been awarded, the board said.
The board decided to withhold the funds until St. Joseph complies with the law.
"It is a setback. But we are confident that we will be able to work things out with the hospital," said Josephina Fregoso de Ramirez, Executive Director of St. Joseph. The withholding of the funds will not disrupt the center's operation, she added.
The board also will work with the cities of Mountain View and Los Altos on the issue.
Mountain View officials support the project, but were reluctant to help fund it because they were concerned about the possibility of violating the law.
Perry Lorenz, a Sunnyvale resident, said continuation of the funds will encourage more illegal aliens to enter the United States. They will come because they know the center will help them find jobs, he said.
Patrick Skain, a representative for the Bay Area Coalition for Immigration Reform, and Walter Haessner, a Sunnyvale resident, said residents deserve first crack at jobs, even if they are low-paying.
Lopez said he was surprised residents have gotten so upset over how the funds have been used.
They have been used to help the poor "human beings like you and me," Lopez said.
A supporter, Rev. Gene O' Connell, former pastor at St. Joseph Church in Mountain View, said that the program has wide support in the community and that opposition comes only from a small group of people who are trying to make "scapegoats" of the workers.
"We will continue to serve the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable people in the community," he said.
A group called the Immigration Control Advocates of Northern California filed the original complaint against St. Joseph.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 29, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.