Former illegal awaits a more open immigration policy

Miguel Ruiz, who now creates jobs, wants more open immigration policy

By CAROL E. LEE, ANNA SCOTT and JEREMY WALLACE

STAFF WRITERS

ARCADIA -- In 1973, Miguel Ruiz paid a man $250 to smuggle him from Mexico into the United States. Getting here was just the beginning of years of struggle, with days laboring in the Florida orange groves and nights in cramped worker camps.

But the struggle paid off. Ruiz, 57, runs a small construction business. He and his wife, Lucila, a secretary at a local parish, are permanent legal residents. They own two cars. They shuttle their three children from their three-bedroom house to elementary school, softball practice and dance class.

"I can't ask for more," Miguel Ruiz said, as two of his daughters wrapped Christmas presents and practiced adding decimals.

Miguel and Lucila say they are examples of what happens when immigrants who come illegally are allowed to stay with legal rights: They become productive, tax-paying citizens, employers who create jobs.

The Ruizes have been following the 2008 presidential election closely, looking for signs that a more open immigration policy and rights for illegal immigrants are on the horizon.

But that is unlikely to be the message tonight in Miami when Republican presidential candidates hold their first and only debate on Spanish-language television.

Differing more in tone than substance, the Republican candidates agree that immigrants here illegally should pay fines and back taxes before they can even apply for citizenship.

And many of the candidates want even stiffer sanctions. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney opposes a temporary guest worker program. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson wants to eradicate illegal immigrants from the workforce and give them no pathway to citizenship. Texas Rep. Ron Paul says they should be denied all services, including medical treatment.

All are quick to declare their opposition to amnesty, which they see as giving illegal immigrants an easier route to citizenship than those who did not cross the border illegally. By cracking down on illegal hirings, Republican candidates are convinced those in the country illegally will return to their home countries.

That is not at all what the Ruiz family is hoping to hear.

While Miguel and Lucila have green cards -- permanent residency status, which is a path to citizenship -- three of Lucila's relatives living in Arcadia are here illegally. They clean homes in Sarasota and Port Charlotte, work in restaurants, construction or pick oranges. Among them, they have four children attending public schools and no health insurance. Lucila's brother cannot get a car because he cannot get a driver's license.

Lucila fears that unless more avenues are opened to illegal immigrants, her 11-year-old niece, who attends Arcadia schools, will not be able to go to college after graduating from high school because she was not born in the United States.

"That's important for me, for the children," she said.

She would like more flexibility for illegal immigrants seeking health care, such as insurance options or the opportunity to get on payment plans for out-of-pocket care. One of her sisters, treated in Port Charlotte for a broken finger, had to pay $400 up front, an enormous sum for a woman making low wages.

Lucila would also like driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Her brother lost a job driving workers for construction after his employer learned he did not have a license.

"There's a lot of obstacles in not having a driver's license," she said. "If you wanted to go to work, you can't because your car will not have insurance."

None of the Republicans support giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. And even among Democrats, Hillary Clinton has faced stiff criticism for even considering it.

Then there is the plan to build a 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Miguel Ruiz calls the wall "the most stupid thing the United States can make.

"People are going to be coming in no matter what," he said.

The number of immigrants living in the United States is at the highest level in 80 years -- 1 in 8 residents, according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies, using Census Bureau statistics. In 1990, it was 1 in 13. Estimates put the number of illegal immigrants in the country at 12 million. In Florida, about 6 percent of the 18 million residents are here illegally, the third-highest rate in the nation.

Without certain rights, immigrant activists say, illegal immigrants are destined to be trapped in a cycle of poverty.

"They really are exploited people," said Sister Ann DeNicolo, program director for Catholic Charities of DeSoto County.

But candidates such as Romney say it is U.S. taxpayers who are being exploited.

Immigrants tend to have more children and lower incomes than non-immigrants, adding to their use of tax-funded programs. In Florida the average household income of an illegal immigrant family is $46,000 a year, and the household size is 3.3 people, compared to the $64,000-a-year average for non-immigrants and average household size of 2.2 people.

"If somebody comes to America and can't afford to feed their child and so they're enrolled in a free lunch program, can't afford medical care for their child so they get Medicaid, is that a cost of immigration? Yes," said Steven Camarata, author of the Center for Immigration Studies report. "That cost would not have existed if that parent was not here."

The issue of benefits for illegals roared to the front of the immigration debate this month as GOP rivals questioned former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's support of a policy to allow children of illegal immigrants to have access to tax-payer funded college scholarships.

At the debate in St. Petersburg, Romney lashed out at that policy, saying "illegals are not going to get taxpayer funded breaks" if he is president.

But while it is clear that illegal immigrants use government services, there is sharp debate on whether they pay for it.

A study done in May by Florida International University said Florida immigrants, legal and illegal, contribute nearly $1,500 a year more in property and sales taxes than they receive in government services. Non-immigrants contribute about $1,390 more than they receive in public services.

"We found that immigrants and natives pay a comparable amount in taxes and that immigrants receive less of the cash benefit services, such as welfare, food stamps, Medicaid and housing assistance, which shows that overall immigrants are a benefit to the economy in Florida," said Emily Eisenhauer, the lead author of the study.

Illegal immigrants could contribute even more if they were allowed to do so, said Miguel Ruiz.

He said his brother-in-law wants to buy a house, for example, but he has not been able to get a loan because he is not here legally.

Immigrants like him would also be able to pay into the government more if they had certain benefits, Miguel said.

"Everybody needs a driver's license," he said. "Legal Mexicans buy cars, insurance -- we like to go here and there. We spend our money here. It doesn't go to Mexico anymore."