Search Results: points for asking questions

The Department of Homeland Security is now barring states and volunteer groups that receive government funds from helping undocumented immigrants, according to a Washington Post analysis of updated guidelines and interviews with Federal Emergency Management Agency employees.

Some members of the national volunteer disaster group network also questioned whether the new requirements are constitutional and point out that they seem to violate some local and state laws that prevent asking about a person’s immigration status.

By accepting the federal grants and awards, the new documents state, volunteer organizations that help after disasters must agree to not “operate any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.”

That could put groups that provide food, housing, mental health support and other assistance in disaster-stricken states in the position of having to verify aid recipients legal status before providing assistance, experts said.

They are also barred from “harboring, concealing, or shielding from detection illegal aliens;” have to agree to “provide access to detainees, such as when an immigration officer seeks to interview a person who might be a removable alien;” and not leak or publicize an enforcement operation.

Several members raised concerns that federal contracts cannot make nonprofits violate local laws that protect people’s privacy. The bulk of disaster-volunteer groups that work with the federal government are also faith-based organizations, which some groups said could create constitutional concerns.

"First, the federal government has never attempted to tell the nonprofit sector who we can and cannot serve. Further, as a faith-based organization we have the right to determine who we serve.”

WWJD?