The Latino Action Network says the Gov. Chris Christie administration has failed to provide equal access to Sandy relief for residents who speak Spanish, with the state's recovery website delineating an appeals process for grant denial in English but not Spanish and listing incorrect deadlines and hours of operation in Spanish.
In a complaint filed by the group’s president, Frank Argote-Freyre, to the head of Christie’s Department of Community Affairs, a number of remedies are requested, including having the DCA “acknowledge its violations and apprise’’ the federal government of them.
The law permits the administration to withhold a formal response until Oct. 23.
DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said the allegations are being looked into.
“We are working hard to accommodate our Spanish-speaking residents who have been trying to access the many programs available for those impacted by Sandy,’’ Ryan said. “We are looking into the issues raised by this group, and if there are areas that need to be addressed, we will take action immediately.’’
In the complaint Argote-Freyre says state programs providing Sandy rebuilding and assistance grants “fail to provide critical and legally mandated documents, forms and other information to Spanish speakers in the language in which they are proficient,’’ which he goes on to call a “clear violation of federal law.’’
“People who speak English have been given the opportunity to appeal denials of funding; people speaking Spanish were not told about any such appeals process. Information regarding dates and times that local housing resource offices would be open were updated in English, but that updated information was not provided in Spanish. Likewise information regarding applications not being accepted after August 1 was provided in English, but not in Spanish,’’ he said.
This isn't the first time the Latino Action Network has sparred with Christie. The group denounced Christie's decision in 2011 to replace outgoing state Supreme Court Justice Robert Rivera-Soto with a non-Latino and has endorsed Democrat Barbara Buono over Christie in this year's gubernatorial race.
