Afraid to get help

WAUCHULA, Fla. -- Angel Lopez examined a blue flier that read in English and Spanish, "Disaster Assistance is Available Now," but discarded it as soon as FEMA workers moved on to another house in this neighborhood of migrant farmworkers.

Lopez had no intention of applying for federal assistance even though Hurricane Charley ripped off part of the roof of the home he rents and damaged his possessions.

"I fear being deported," said the 32-year-old farmworker, who came to Florida illegally from Vera Cruz, Mexico, two years ago.

Fear of deportation is one of the many obstacles preventing illegal immigrants who lost homes or jobs during Hurricane Charley from seeking disaster relief. The language barrier is also a problem, and undocumented workers can't apply for cash assistance, although they are eligible for food and temporary shelter.

Thousands of illegal immigrants, most originally from Mexico and Guatemala, work in southwest Florida's agricultural heartland, which was devastated by Charley's 145-mph winds.

Many are migrant workers who were picking crops up north and won't have jobs when they return to Florida in the winter, since the hurricane damaged an estimated 20 percent of Florida's citrus crop for the coming season.

Limited aid available

Others have settled in the area permanently. In two counties that were hardest-hit, agricultural bastions DeSoto and Hardee counties, Hispanics make up a quarter and a third of the population, respectively. Foreign-born residents account for one in six residents in both counties.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency limits cash-assistance and unemployment programs to U.S. citizens and qualified aliens, although undocumented residents can get nonmonetary help such as ice, water, shelter, food and counseling.

U.S. Small Business Administration administrator Hector Barreto conceded that illegal immigrants are limited in the aid they can receive from the department, but he said the state and private groups such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross may offer financial help.

About 70 miles southwest of Wauchula, at the Pink Citrus Trailer Park in the island town of Bokeelia, workers Esteban Juanta, 36, and Antonio Avalos, 24, lived with a third roommate in a trailer that Juanta estimates has about $3,000 in water damage from the hurricane.

As illegal immigrants, they fear they will be unable to get disaster-relief cash that would allow them to stay in the trailer park, where the majority of the residents are Mexican.

"We need a Social Security number," said Avalos, 24, of Michoacan, Mexico. "If we don't have one, forget about it."

Gov. Jeb Bush, who has been in regular contact with FEMA director Michael Brown, said illegal immigrants shouldn't fear being deported if they apply for disaster aid.

"There's no penalty," Bush said.

But Jorge Lomonaco, the Mexican consul general in Miami, said he would like FEMA to be more flexible when it comes to providing undocumented workers with cash assistance. He has brought his concerns to the governor.

"The key issue now is discrimination taking place relating to emergency assistance because of immigration status," Lomonaco said. "You don't want so many people left behind in this state."

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On the Net:

http://www.fema.gov