Hispanics say N.J. Gov. Christie's proposed budget cuts would hit them hard
Hispanic leaders are warning that Governor Christie's proposed budget cuts will devastate their communities by leaving little or no funding for programs that assist the unemployed, disabled and the destitute, among others.
CARMINE GALASSO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Immigrants at the Hispanic Information Center of Passaic discussing Governor Christie's proposed budget cuts.
Leaders are particularly concerned about the pending elimination of the Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development, which funnels funds to some 40 agencies that they say serve about 300,000 mostly low-income Latinos annually. The 35-year-old department, they note, is the only state agency that focuses on Hispanics.
The cuts are the latest source of frustration among Hispanics over Christie. They were angered by his decision to drop legal immigrants who are not naturalized U.S. citizens from NJ FamilyCare, a health insurance program for low-income parents, and by the possibility that he would eliminate the Commission on New Americans, a long-awaited initiative by his predecessor to address immigrant issues in New Jersey.
"This is not shared sacrifice," said Guillermo Beytagh-Maldonado, executive director of the Hispanic Directors Association, an umbrella group, referring to the proposed cuts. "He's cutting our head off. So many people in New Jersey are talking about how Hispanics are going be profiled in Arizona because of the new immigration law. But right here in New Jersey we're being profiled, we're being treated outrageously."
Hispanics say Christie seems indifferent to the problems and needs of their communities, though Hispanics are now the state's largest minority group, making
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