Thread: CA-Activists push ballot initiative to end state benefits

Activists push ballot initiative to end state benefits for illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children


Lawrence K. Ho

Ted Hilton speaks with Evelyn Miller at a Fourth of July barbecue organized by anti-illegal-immigration groups at Camp Vigilance near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The measure would end public benefits to illegal residents, challenge the citizenship of their U.S.-born children, cut welfare payments to those children and impose new birth certificate requirements.

By Teresa Watanabe
July 13, 2009

In a stretch of desert just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, men and women in khakis and the colors of the American flag recently gathered at a border watch post they call Camp Vigilance and discussed their next offensive in the nation's immigration wars.

The target: Illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children who receive public benefits.



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The plan: a California ballot initiative that would end public benefits for illegal immigrants, cut off welfare payments for their children and impose new rules for birth certificates.

"We will be out in full force to qualify this initiative," said Barbara Coe, who helped develop Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that would have ended benefits to illegal immigrants but was ruled unconstitutional. "Illegals and their children are costing the state billions of dollars. It's invasion by birth canal."

Supporters of the initiative, recently unveiled by San Diego political activist Ted Hilton, hope to challenge the citizenship of children born in the United States to parents who are here illegally.


The 14th Amendment states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside." Backers of the initiative argue that illegal residents are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States and that, as a result, their U.S.-born children should not be citizens.

Before Hilton, Coe and their allies can argue that point in court, however, they have many hurdles to overcome. Whether the initiative will even make it to the ballot remains to be seen. Organizers have just begun to collect the 488,000 voter signatures required to qualify the measure for the June 2010 election. So far, Hilton said, they have raised about $350,000 -- far short of the $4 million generally needed to pay signature gatherers to get a statewide initiative over that hurdle.

But illegal immigration was a powerful political issue in the economic downturn of the early 1990s, and the initiative's backers hope it will be again. Hilton said the group is enlisting an "enormous volunteer base" for the signature gathering. His organization, Taxpayer Revolution, has gathered endorsements from elected officials, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), the American Legion California chapter and immigration restrictionist groups such as NumbersUSA, Save Our State and Coe's California Coalition for Immigration Reform.

The drive coincides with decisions in several states -- including Oklahoma, Colorado Virginia, Arizona and Georgia -- to curtail medical care, mortgage loans, homeless shelter relief and other benefits for illegal immigrants amid the national economic downturn.

Officials estimate that California's 2.7 million illegal residents account for $4 billion to $6 billion of the state's roughly $105-billion budget. Most of those costs are associated with schools, prisons and emergency healthcare.

"Are we going to continue asking taxpayers to pay for these services when the state is completely out of money?" asked Hilton, who first rallied against illegal immigration two decades ago.

Most illegal residents contribute to the state through taxes and labor, but research indicates that the costs to state and local governments outweigh the additional tax revenue, at least in the short term.

The nonpartisan state legislative analyst's office says the measure could reduce costs by more than $1 billion a year if it survives legal challenges.

Peter Schey, a Los Angeles attorney who successfully challenged Proposition 187, said courts would almost certainly strike down the measure.

"This proposal . . . has no chance of surviving a constitutional challenge," he said. "It is plainly driven by racism and a desire to whip up xenophobia during difficult economic times for U.S. citizens."

Backers say, however, that they have carefully crafted the measure to avoid the legal pitfalls that doomed Proposition 187, which would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving any public social services, education and nonemergency medical care. Voters approved it, 59% to 41%, but a federal judge ruled that the measure unconstitutionally usurped federal jurisdiction over immigration.

This time, backers worked with attorneys who have helped craft successful efforts to curtail benefits in other states.

The new measure does not claim any state authority to regulate immigration, said Mike Hethmon, an attorney with the Washington-based Immigration Reform Law Institute who advised the initiative's authors. Instead, he said, it is based on federal authority delegated to the states to restrict access to benefits and verify applicants' eligibility.

Under the 1996 federal welfare reform law, illegal residents are barred from welfare, public housing, food assistance, unemployment aid and other federal benefits. California laws, however, allow illegal residents to receive some state and local benefits, including nonemergency medical care.

The initiative would require all applicants for public benefits to verify their legal status. And unlike Proposition 187, it would not attempt to curtail access to education.


The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that states could not bar illegal immigrant children from schools.

The measure's most controversial provisions would take aim at the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. It would end state welfare to an estimated 48,000 households and 100,000 children, aid that now costs the state $640 million a year.

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Currently, children of illegal immigrants can receive CalWorks benefits if their parents are poor enough to qualify for welfare. About 42% of child only" cases in the CalWorks program involve illegal-immigrant parents, state officials say.

The measure would also cut off CalWorks payments to the children of citizens or legal residents who fail to meet eligibility requirements for state aid because they are unwilling to work, addicted to drugs or absent, among other reasons.

The initiative would require that applicants for birth certificates verify their legal status.


Those who could not would have to present official identification from a foreign government, a record of any publicly funded costs for delivering the child and other information before receiving their child's birth certificate, which would be marked with the notation "foreign parent."

The records would be sent to Homeland Security officials.

Kristina Campbell, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund in Los Angeles, said that provision is legally vulnerable. "You can't deny a U.S. citizen child a birth certificate," she said.

"They are entitled to equal protection of the law."

The views were different at Camp Vigilance, where many of the 300 people gathered for a Fourth of July program on illegal immigration flocked to sign the petition.

"Coming here in violation of our laws is an act of disrespect," said Tony Dolz, a native Cuban and campaign volunteer. "Those who break our laws should not benefit from it."

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com




http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... &track=rss

The bill that they are fighting to get put into law, (they need the signatures by Nov), is the same law that the other states like OK, etc. as listed have put into place.

It has gone up before the courts many, many times. That is the exact reason why they worded the bill the way they did so that it could go thru the courts and win. Too many rulings in other states denote that this bill is a legal bill the way it is worded.

Too many other states have this same bill and have gone to court and won over and over.

Just wanted to give you some perspective on this bill.

RELATED

CA. TAXPAYER PROTECTION ACT (Birthright Citizenship) UPDATED

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-141769-bir ... itizenship


RELATED

Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009 (Introduced in House)

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-156410-1868.html


RELATED

400,000 anchor babies born in U.S. each year

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-881484.html#881484
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CA. Initiative to target illegal immigrants, their children

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-152929.html
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Illegal migrants' children targeted

Group's initiative would limit rights of the kids of undocumented residents.

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1324374.html

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Activists Seek End $640M Calif. Welfare Program for Illegals

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-162822.html

INITIATIVE WILL SAVE CALIFORNIA TAXPAYERS $1 BILLION ANNUALLY

CALIFORNIA TAXPAYER PROTECTION ACT of 2010

Border control by stopping the magnets

PETITIONS READY IN JUNE FOR SIGNATURES!!!

Sponsored by TAXPAYER REVOLUTION

The statewide ballot initiative will save the taxpayers over
$1 Billion annually per the state's Dept of Finance.

The laws will:
REQUIRE issuance of the official "CALIFORNIA BIRTH
CERTIFICATE" for births to ONLY citizens and permanent legal
residents pursuant to the original intent of the 14th Amendment.
Birth to foreign parent document issued to all others; that mother
required to pay an additional fee, submit photographs,
fingerprints, provide means of support and full identity, all to be
provided to Homeland Security.

STOP 18 years of WELFARE payments that are now direct
deposited into illegal aliens' bank accounts for their children.
Child-only CalWORKS is not a federally mandated program and
the state can terminate it.

ALLOW only CITIZENS and QUALIFIED LEGAL ALIENS
eligibility tor all public funded benafits. Ends non-emergency,
pre-natal and all public benefits to illegal aliens. The text of this
law is already upheld in federal court.

The initiative is supported by Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Brian Bilbray; State Senator Tom Harman, former State Senators Bill Morrow and Larry Stirling, Ward Connerly, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Peter Nunez ,You Don't Speak For Me, Veterans for Secure Borders, and more. There will be petitions at 500 California American Legion posts, Numbers USA has alerted 200,000. There are over 2,500 volunteers to obtain signatures, and over 7,000 donors to the campaign.

This political movement will launch the national debate needed to bring an end to "birth tourism" and automatic citizenship in the United States of America.

Petition drive: Mid 2009 Ballot: JUNE 2010
www.taxpayerrevolution.org/ to donate on-line,
or by mail: TAXPAYER REVOLUTION, P.O. BOX 9985, SAN DIEGO, CA 92169
To endorse, email: voter@taxpaverrevolution.org

When the 14th Amendment was written our country wasn't being bankrupted by illegal aliens. Our forefathers had better sense and believed in fighting for our country and not handing it over to anyone who wanted to move in, set up a drug business, sign up for welfare and take over. If our forefathers were still here this would not be happening. I think it is safe to assume that when the 14th Amendment was written there were no provisions made for millions of illegal aliens to come across the border and set up house in America. With that in mind there is no way an illegal alien can produce an American child because the parents are here ILLEGALLY. Deport all of them and quick!

Calls needed to Senate in opposition to Sotomayor nomination!!! Please join in!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-923855.html#923855

14th Amendment was for slaves set free so they could be classified as Americans. At this point I would say we are the slaves of Mexico and we should be set free and designated as Americans. Not Mexicans that support the Mexican government and their poor.