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  1. #1
    Senior Member florgal's Avatar
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    AR: Group files illegal immigration ballot measure

    Group files illegal immigration ballot measure

    Last Update: 8:44 am



    LITTLE ROCK (AP) - A new ballot initiative aims to require government agencies verify all those seeking public benefits in Arkansas are legal residents of the United States.

    The measure, by a group calling itself Secure Arkansas, also would require those older than 13 to sign an oath saying they live legally in the country. The group says those who falsely fill out an affidavit could face perjury charges.

    "Keeping illegal aliens from getting on public assistance just any time they want to and taking all of our taxpayer funds, that's really what it's all about," Secure Arkansas chairwoman Jeannie Burlsworth of Bryant said Friday.

    Exceptions to the measure would include emergency medical care, disaster relief, soup kitchens, crisis counseling and short-term shelters.

    Burlsworth's group filed the measure March 27 with the state attorney general's office. The state has until April 9 to review the proposed measure. If approved, supporters could begin gathering the required 61,974 signatures needed to place it before voters in November.

    The measure comes as Arkansas has one of the nation's fastest growing Hispanic populations. The state is home to an estimated 141,000 Hispanics. Studies have concluded that about half of the state's immigrant population lives illegally in the U.S.

    Testimony last year concluded Arkansas pays $170 million a year to educate, imprison and provide services to all immigrants - with the majority of money going toward education. But the estimated state costs remain a fraction of immigrants' estimated economic power in the state.

    The measure is cause for concern, said the Rev. Steve Copley, chairman of the Arkansas Friendship Coalition, a statewide advocacy opposing punitive laws targeting immigrants. However, he acknowledged the measure could test how the public views the state's newest residents.

    "It strikes me that in some ways it may be kind of a litmus test of how the feelings really run in Arkansas on this issue," Copley said.
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    DUH Do ya think?
    On the Net:

    Secure Arkansas: http://www.securearkansas.com/

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    Information from: The Morning News, http://www.nwaonline.net/

    http://www.fox16.com/news/state/story.a ... a8&rss=316

  2. #2
    Senior Member alamb's Avatar
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    I wish soem people stopped palying games about terms. It's ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION and not just immgration! That way we can go to the heart of issues straight away and not waste our time making sure we are steer people who play games towards the real issues, like being unlawfully here in the US, in their millions, costing us money etc etc etc etc.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Saki's Avatar
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    I'll be working on this initiative up to the signature deadline. We have our work cut out for us due to various illegal sympathizers(big business, ACLU, typical deluded bleeding hearts, skeptical governor) and the sheer number of signatures needed(61,974) by July 1. We're recruiting local volunteers right now.

  4. #4
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    McDaniel Rejects Initiative To Limit Benefits To Illegal Immigrants
    April 9, 2008

    By Jason Wiest
    The Morning News
    LITTLE ROCK - Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Wednesday rejected the name and ballot title of a proposed ballot initiative that would make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to receive public benefits.

    McDaniel cited ambiguous language in the measure and said that at 923 words, the length of the ballot title was "troublesome."

    Secure Arkansas, the grassroots organization that filed the measure on March 27, now must resubmit a revised proposal and have it approved by McDaniel before the group can begin collecting the 61,974 voter signatures required to place the measure on the ballot in November.

    "We're definitely working on getting that changed and resubmitted," the group's leader, Jeannie Burlsworth of Bryant said. "I do think that the voters of Arkansas deserve a chance to vote on this initiative."

    The proposed initiated act would require citizenship or an alternate legal status to be verified or expressed before Arkansans over 13 could receive public benefits, excluding emergency medical care, organ transplants, disaster relief, treatment of disease, prenatal care, soup kitchens, crisis counseling and short-term shelters.

    McDaniel took issue with the initiative's name, which he wrote gives the impression that the measure would deny benefits that are currently being provided to people that are in the U.S. illegally.

    "This may lend to partisan coloring to the popular name," McDaniel wrote.

    "It also may be incorrect to the extent it fails to acknowledge that access to many public benefits by undocumented immigrants is currently restricted by federal law."

    Additionally, the ballot title does not sufficiently specify what public benefits would be affected, nor does it define the term "qualified alien," McDaniel wrote.

    Burlsworth said she did not have a timeline for resubmitting the measure and that she had not yet spoken with her attorney.

    www.nwaonline.net
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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