Good neighbor policy

ICE should help towns prepare for newcomers

This is no way for neighbors to get to know each other. Residents of the small town of California, Pa., are up in arms because more than 40 men, women and children from Romania have begun renting homes there. They don’t know how they came to find their Washington County town and say federal immigration officials have been difficult to contact for information.

They have a point. If the federal government knows or has reason to believe that such a community is going to take shape someplace, it should let local officials know, not to lay the groundwork for nativist opposition but to pave the way for services to help the newcomers adjust to their new surroundings.

In California, some residents have been put off by their new neighbors’ behavior. The complaints include leaving trash around and flouting traffic laws. But the residents also have been jarred by the quick appearance of a large group of outsiders, and theywant to know how it coalesced.

The newcomers have been identified as Roma, an ethnic group often referred to as Gypsies. Roma and ethnic Romanians are not the same people. Last year, in a story about racist graffiti in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, The Associated Press reported that “Roma are among the poorest people in Romania and face widespread discrimination.” The same is truein other parts of Europe, too.

Those in California say they fled discrimination and want asylum here. Rather than lock them up, Immigration and Customs Enforcement enrolled the Roma in its Alternatives to Detention program pending further action on their cases.

ICE told the Post-Gazette that it doesn’t place ATD participants in particular places. However, it should provide guidance to the immigrants and work with communities to help them settle in, however long they might be there.

Middle America needs more immigrants. Pittsburgh, for example, has a looming workforce shortage that newcomers can help meet. It’s important that new neighbors get off on the right foot, and the federal government should do more to ensure that happens.