WHY IS THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE CONTINUING
TO FUND THE ILLEGAL ALIEN CHILD CARE CENTER, CENTRO FAMILIA, WHEN THE
COUNTY IG AND FBI BOTH DOCUMENT THE ORGANIZATION’S MISUSE OF $$?? SEE
ARTICLE BELOW.
WHY ARE MILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS BEING UTILIZED TO SUPPORT A SEPARATE
CENTER FOR HISPANIC ILLEGAL ALIEN CHILDREN?? WHY CAN’T THESE HISPANIC
CHILDREN BE MAINSTREAMED IN PRIVATE OR OTHER ENGLISH SPEAKING DAY CARE
CENTERS??
BETTER YET, WHY CAN’T THESE ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THEIR FAMILIES BE
TURNED OVER TO FEDERAL AUTHORITIES FOR DEPORTATION AT GREAT SAVINGS TO
MONTGOMERY COUNTY???
PLEASE CONTACT THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov AND COUNTY EXECUTIVE IKE LEGGETT ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov
TELL THEM TO IMMEDIATELY END ALL FUNDING FOR CENTRO FAMILIA. USE THE
SAVINGS TO PAY FOR NEEDED SERVICES FOR CITIZENS AND THEIR FAMILIES!
LET’S FUND RATHER THAN FURLOUGH OUR COUNTY POLICE, TEACHERS AND
FIREMEN! NO MORE SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR HISPANIC ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Montgomery County: Child care center overpaid employees, had no receipts
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
December 22, 2009
A Wheaton child care center that has been questioned by the FBI overbilled Montgomery County taxpayers by more than $9,200 a month before county officials started taking a closer look at its finances, according to newly released county records.
Centro Familia, which provides child care services geared for immigrant Hispanic children, overbilled the county $85,000 for fiscal 2009, according to an analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The county’s inspector general issued a report in February saying there were “significant concerns about … possible fraud, waste or abuse” at the center. The Examiner first reported that an FBI agent interviewed the county’s bookkeeper in October.
Health department director Uma Ahluwalia noted that the center had fewer discrepancies after her department began reviewing payroll records in February.
Overall, records show that the county found that the center overbilled the county by an average of more than $9,200 a month for the first seven months of fiscal 2009. After the department began reviewing Centro Familia’s finances, the county found that the center overbilled by an average of $3,665 a month.
The county’s analysis, obtained through a public records request, shows that the center submitted invoices for a number of costs, such as “travel,” “supplies,” “insurance” and “equipment maintenance” over several months without providing documentation. The center billed more than $4,000 in “supplies” without providing receipts.
The analysis also found that the center had overbilled its employees’ salaries by more than $26,000 for the first six months of fiscal 2006. Records show that the center also paid a full-time employee $110 in “consulting fees” and there were several other consulting invoices that had no supporting documentation.
Centro Familia officials have denied any wrongdoing and said the county has underpaid them more than $15,000 for fiscal 2009. The chairman of the center’s board, David Anderson, said the center is appealing the county’s finding.
Anderson said the county’s report shows that there has been no fraud or abuse at the center, only that there is a disagreement over pay formulas and that some receipts have been lost.
In a letter to Centro Familia, Ahluwalia complained that the center had not been responsive to her requests.
“Reconciling your contract invoices was extremely time-consuming and challenging due to the poor quality of the documentation, lack of a well-organized and consistent general ledger, and delayed response time in receiving information,” Ahluwalia said.
HERE IS A SPECIAL HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM GUANTANAMO TORRES, HEAD OF THE ANTI-CITIZEN GROUP CASA DE MARYLAND. YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
UNDERMINING THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF ALL MARYLANDERS.
HELP SAVE MARYLAND IS WORKING HARD TO MAKE SURE NO MORE MARYLAND TAX DOLLARS ARE FLUSHED DOWN THE CASA DE MARYLAND RAT HOLE TO ATTRACT, ASSIST AND SUSTAIN ILLEGAL ALIENS.
“Best wishes from CASA de Maryland for a Happy and Healthy New Year
filled with Peace, Justice and Comprehensive Immigration Reform”
“Dear Friend,
For CASA’s community these holidays represent a time of hope.
Our community is feeling the effects of one of the worst economic
crises in recent history: the rise of food prices, an increase in the
demand for basic needs; and higher unemployment among them. Now, more
than ever, low-income Latino and immigrant families are counting on
CASA’s support to overcome these difficult times.
CASA de Maryland works with thousands of community members every year
helping the low-income immigrant community improve their quality of
life, fight for equal treatment, access basic services and seek for
justice. Last year CASA placed workers in nearly 17,000 jobs, recovered
$125,000 in unpaid wages and provided ESOL classes to over 1,200
immigrants. In spite of the economic challenges, CASA has continued to
work unstoppably thanks to the support of individuals like you.
We know that tough times do not diminish the spirit of generosity of
individuals like you. CASA is grateful for your support.
Your investment now will help CASA meet the needs of thousands of
tenants, workers, women and families that can only hope for better times
to come. Please consider making a charitable contribution to CASA de
Maryland. All donations are fully tax deductible.”
TORRES FORGOT TO THANK VENEZUELAN THUG LEADER HUGO CHAVEZ FOR HIS $1.5 MILLION DONATION TO CASA!
HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SIMPLY ENFORCE THE LAW AGAINST ILLEGAL ALIENS. NO AMNESTY IS NEEDED, NO IN-STATE TUITION, NO SERVICES OR PROGRAMS, NO MS-13 GANG REHABILITATION CENTERS. JUST ENFORCE THE LAW AND THE PROBLEM MELTS AWAY!
Latinos scramble to ensure a ride after licenses canceled
Many leaving state, advocates say
Monday, December 21, 2009 3:08 AM
By Randy Ludlow and Stephanie Czekalinski
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The signs are popping up at Latino markets throughout Columbus.
“Necesitas ride?” one asks in a mix of English and Spanish. “I’ll take you wherever you want.”
For a fee, the impromptu taxi services offer transportation to undocumented immigrants who were forced to park their cars because they could not prove legal U.S. residency.
Some are transferring “ownership” of their cars to family members or friends who are legal U.S. residents so that they can remain on the road in legally registered vehicles.
Those without friends or family members here are turning to strangers, paying them $300 to $500 to title vehicles in their names so immigrants’ cars carry valid license plates.
Some businesses that employ undocumented immigrants are shuttling their employees between homes and workplaces in vans.
Other immigrants simply have given up, packing up and moving to states where it’s easier to register vehicles.
The fallout from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ cancellation of 42,503 vehicle registrations on Dec. 9 has been life-changing for illegal immigrants, many of whom are Latino.
BMV figures suggest that more registrations were revoked in Franklin County than any other county in the state. (Nearly 21,000 vehicles registered in the county were threatened with cancellation. The actual number canceled is unavailable.)
It’s no longer easy for some families to get to work, school, the doctor or the grocery. The canceled license plates on their cars now serve as a beacon to police and as a potential one-way ticket out of the United States.
As part of a crackdown on improper vehicle registrations by immigrants, the BMV scoured its computers and came up with 47,457 questionable registrations.
It then told those vehicle owners to show up at a BMV office with an Ohio driver’s license or ID card or proof of a Social Security number to verify their identities and update their registrations. Nearly 5,000 people did so.
The remainder, largely undocumented immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, now drive at their own risk. If stopped for driving an unregistered vehicle, they face arrest and potential deportation.
A bid by a Latino organization to obtain a court order to prevent the BMV from canceling registrations failed on Dec. 7, sparking a fear-induced scramble.
“They think this is the end of the world,” said Dennis Muchnicki, a Dub- lin immigration attorney who is continuing to press the lawsuit challenging the BMV’s action. “People are fleeing like crazy.”
Muchnicki might amend his action in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to seek class-action status and demand that the BMV return millions of dollars in fees to Latinos whose registrations initially were accepted.
Joseph Mas, a Columbus lawyer and leader in the Latino community, estimates that up to 10 percent of the city’s immigrants have departed. “They don’t feel welcome and feel as a community under siege,” he said.
Mas described the BMV’s move as the first by a state agency to result in the “institutionalism of racism.”
State officials reject the notion of discrimination or an illegal foray into immigration status, saying Latinos were not asked to do anything that is not required of all Ohioans seeking to register vehicles.
On Spanish-language radio and at a legal clinic last week, Mas and other lawyers counseled immigrants to transfer vehicle titles to legal friends and family members who then can obtain valid license plates.
But there are risks in the strategy, both for those doing a friendly favor and those demanding hundreds of dollars from Latinos who have nowhere else to turn.
The new “owners” of such vehicles are financially responsible for damage or injuries caused in any crashes. And they could be sent to jail for up to six months if they knowingly allow an unlicensed driver to drive “their” cars.
An undocumented immigrant from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, is among those who have paid to stay on the road. “We put our plates in the name of another lady we know,” she said. “We paid her $500.” The woman, who requested anonymity because of fear of deportation, also pays insurance premiums on the car to protect the new “owner.”
“People are paying whatever for their cars because they’re indispensable,” she said in Spanish. “But we’re still exposed, because if they stop you and ask for a driver’s license, they can deport you.”
State officials do not know how many immigrants have been caught driving cars with recently canceled license plates.
State law requires sheriff’s offices and local police agencies to seize revoked license plates, but it does not allow the State Highway Patrol to repossess plates.
Thousands of cars were registered by “runners,” legal U.S. residents who demanded fees of $100 or more to use falsified power-of-attorney forms to register vehicles on behalf of immigrants.
A young father and undocumented immigrant from Durango, Mexico, blames the runners for prompting the BMV crackdown.
The man, who declined to give his name for fear of deportation, said that runners made their living processing plates for immigrants, regardless of their clients’ ability to identify themselves.
“You’d pay $200 or $300 for plates and they didn’t take any ID, and people are driving around with plates in God-knows-whose names,” he said in Spanish.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! |
Readers Respond