A few hours ago, I made a post about the Houston Chronicle's investigation into the practice of local charities, including the Salvation Army, requiring proof of immigration status before giving toys to children. The Salvation Army has written to me to clarify that their checking of social security numbers and other ID is intended to "verify that individuals and

families are not registering more than once at multiple Salvation Army

facilities and to ensure people actually have the number of children they

claim."

Jennifer Byrd sez, "As The Salvation Army's National Public Relations Director, I wanted to

inform you that the original Houston Chronicle story was a bit misleading

in how it portrayed the use of social security numbers and ID by The

Salvation Army in Houston to register people in need. In actuality, no

program run by The Salvation Army at a national or local level requires the

recipient of services to present documentation that verifies they are a

U.S. citizen."

From the Houston Chronicle's followup story:



Flanagan and Salvation Army spokesman Juan Alanis spoke up Tuesday after a story in the Chronicle noted that both groups require birth certificates, Social Security numbers or other documents indicating immigration status. They said it's not their intent to discriminate. Alanis acknowledged that families cannot register for the Angel Tree program, which allows children to request specific gifts, unless one member of the family can present a Social Security number. "It is not because we seek to discriminate. The Salvation Army is not in the business of verifying legal status," he said. "We have to be good stewards. If we let people register without checking, that could be abused." Alanis said the agency uses Social Security numbers, rather than some other type of identifier, because "that's just the way we've found to verify it at this point. If other agencies do something different, we'd be interested in finding that out."



Charities say they don't intend to discriminate

(Thanks, Jennifer!)

Before you give any money to the Salvation Army this year, remember, they run a program where kids are only given toys if they can present a valid birth certification or immigration papers, so that the children of illegal immigrants are punished for their parents' deeds. At Christmas. While other kids are given toys. That your donation paid for.



In a year when more families than ever have asked for help, several programs providing Christmas gifts for needy children require at least one member of the household to be a U.S. citizen. Others ask for proof of income or rely on churches and schools to suggest recipients. The Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department are among those that consider immigration status, asking for birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children… The Outreach Program requires parents to show photo identification and birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children. Young said she makes an exception if parents can show they have applied for legal status or that a child is enrolled in school.



As Patrick sez, "Evidently, I missed the part of the New Testament where Jesus instructs his followers to check people's immigration status before rendering charity to them."

Some toy drives check immigration status

(via Making Light)

(Image: Salvation Army, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from zieak's photostream)