Thread: Ted Cruz Seeks to Ban Illegal Immigrants in U.S. from Citizenship

Cruz's amendment would prevent 11 million currently here from earning legal status

By Rebekah Metzler
May 8, 2013
usnews.com


Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filed an amendment on a new immigration bill that would eliminate a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already here.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a newly elected Republican with a penchant for making headlines, filed an amendment that would bar undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States from ever earning citizenship.

There are an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally, and a bipartisan immigration reform measure would create a pathway to citizenship over the course of 13 years by requiring those people to pay penalties and back taxes, as well as learn English. Conservatives opposed to reform decry the path as amnesty, but Democrats say they will not support reform that does not cope with the immigrants already living in the U.S.

Cruz also filed amendments that he says would "strengthen border security measures; reform the high-skilled temporary worker program; modernize, streamline and expand legal immigration; and prohibit federal, state or local entitlement benefits for those here illegally."

"The amendments filed today to strengthen border security and reform our legal immigration system will not only bring meaningful, effective improvements to our immigration system, but also have a chance of becoming law," said Cruz in a press release. "America is a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants and we need to honor that heritage by fixing our broken immigration system, while upholding the rule of law and championing legal immigration."

Cruz isn't the only one throwing potential poison pills into the mix. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., filed a measure that would grant immigration rights to same-sex couples. If adopted, that amendment would erode Republican support for the carefully crafted compromise. And while it's highly unlikely the Democratically-controlled committee would adopt Cruz's controversial amendments, Leahy's offering very well could be included.

The committee is set to vote on the amendments Thursday.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...om-citizenship

by Matthew Boyle 8 May 2013, 10:59 AM PDT
breitbart.com



Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) aims to block any illegal immigrant from ever receiving any state, local, or federal welfare or public benefits with a series of amendments to the immigration reform bill currently under review in the U.S. Senate.

Cruz has filed five amendments to the bill. The one currently marked “Cruz 2” on the Senate Judiciary Committee website (the amendments have not yet received official numbers) has a stated purpose to “provide that aliens who have entered or remained present in the United States while not in lawful status shall not be eligible for means-tested benefits.”

The amendment would insert language into the bill that specifically says no illegal immigrant who broke the law to enter or stay in the country “shall be eligible for any Federal, State, or local government means-tested benefit, nor shall such alien be eligible for any benefit under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pub. L. 111-14, regardless of the alien’s legal status at the time of application for such benefit.”

In short, without citizenship, even if America’s millions of illegal immigrants received temporary legalization or eventually green cards and permanent legalization, they could never be eligible for any public benefits or welfare, including Obamacare.

Currently, illegal immigrants are precluded from access to most federal, state, or local public benefits, but this bill, as Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has detailed, would allow them to access many state and local benefits immediately upon legalization and would incrementally allow them to access federal benefits along their “path to citizenship.” In the bill, such a path to citizenship is 13 years long for most illegal immigrants but could be sooner for many like DREAM Act beneficiaries. When those illegal immigrants would receive citizenship, they would have full access to public benefits and welfare just like any other U.S. citizen.

Cruz’s next amendment, currently marked “Cruz 3” on the Senate Judiciary Committee website, would eliminate the bill’s path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. When the two amendments are combined, it would mean illegal immigrants would never receive public benefits even if they were permanently legalized and allowed to legally stay and work because they would never reach citizenship.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...ith-amendments

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http://www.alipac.us/content/cruz-se...-welfare-1794/