Anti-illegal immigration bills proposed in California...

Anti-illegal immigration bills proposed


By Edward Sifuentes
The North County Times (Escondido, CA), March 25, 2008

A package of bills designed to crack down on California's estimated 3 million illegal immigrants will be unveiled by Republican lawmakers in Sacramento today.

Two North County representatives are among the sponsors of the bills, which cover a wide range of topics, including elimination of in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrant students at state colleges and universities, requiring proof of legal status to receive state benefits, and barring companies that hire illegal immigrants from receiving state contracts.

An immigrant rights advocate called the bills divisive.

Similar bills have been introduced in recent years without much success. The lawmakers who sponsored the 20-bill package said in a news release Monday that their proposals aim to eliminate enticements that attract illegal immigrants to the state.

Included in the package is Assembly Bill 1882, sponsored by Assemblyman Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad. His bill would require police to contact immigration authorities when a person suspected of being an illegal immigrant is arrested for driving under the influence.

Garrick said he believes the package offers 'common sense' ideas to address illegal immigration.

'I am encouraged that reason will prevail,' he said.

Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, R-Oceanside, sponsored Assembly Bill 2102, which would require state agencies to check all new employees' work eligibility through a federal electronic database called E-Verify.

Walters said the news conference that is scheduled to take place in Sacramento today is designed in part to put pressure on Democrats to take illegal immigration more seriously. She said the state's illegal immigrants cost taxpayers an estimated $9 billion each year.

'We are truly in a crisis,' Walters said.

While some analysts say illegal immigrants are a huge burden on taxpayers, others say they contribute much to the state and the nation's economy.

Pedro Rios, director of the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker human rights organization, said he was troubled by the proposals. Dealing with immigration policy is a federal responsibility, he said.

'This is an attempt to bring the immigration debate to the state level, as they've done in Arizona and other parts of the country, and it doesn't belong there,' Rios said. 'It only creates more division and tension.'

Rios said he does not see much chance of these bills passing through the Legislature due to the Democrats' large majority in the Assembly, 48 to 32. He added that Republicans may be 'testing the waters to see how far they can go.'

Among the other bills are:

# Assembly Bill 39 would require the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to tally the cost of jailing illegal immigrant inmates each year and bill the federal government

# Assembly Bill 1928 would require local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities when they arrest suspected illegal immigrants

# Assembly Bill 2420 would prohibit cities from declaring themselves 'sanctuary cities' for illegal immigrants and not allowing their police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities

# Assembly Bill 648 would add 10 years to the sentence of anyone convicted of a felony who has a previous felony conviction in California for which they were deported

# Assembly Bill 2812 would allow the governor to cite illegal immigration as a cause to declare a local or state emergency



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