Thread: Debate Over Illegal Immigration Resurfaces in Assembly

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/07 ... 195417.txt

Last modified Sunday, July 3, 2005 8:39 PM PDT

Debate over illegal immigration resurfaces in Assembly
By: STEVE LAWRENCE - Associated Press

SACRAMENTO ---- The often heated debate over immigration resurfaces this week as lawmakers consider constitutional amendments that would deny a series of benefits to illegal immigrants and create a state border police force.

"We can't make this state work effectively with all the challenges it faces unless we decide who should be present in the state," says Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-Del Mar, the author of one of the amendments. "We have to control the border."

But opponents say the measures would raise constitutional questions, boost state costs and, in the case of the Wyland measure, risk public health.

"If a whole sector of the population doesn't have access to health care, it jeopardizes the public health of everyone," says Vivek Malhotra, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Wyland says his proposal would discourage illegal immigration and avoid enormous costs, in part by preventing illegal immigrants from receiving any health care or social services not required by federal law.

Those services would include retirement benefits, welfare, disability benefits, housing and food assistance and unemployment benefits, according to an Assembly analysis of the legislation.

The measure would also block the state from issuing driver's licenses or state identification cards to illegal immigrants, bar attempts to allow them to vote, deny them a break on tuition at public colleges and universities and require voters to show proof of citizenship at the polls.

Illegal immigrants could still get emergency health care, Wyland says.

The proposal is similar to a 1994 ballot measure, Proposition 187, that was approved by California voters but was struck down by federal courts.

The other constitutional amendment, by Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, would create the California border police, a force of about 1,500 to 2,000 officers who would supplement federal border police and enforce laws that bar employment of illegal immigrants.

"The federal government is not enforcing its own laws," Haynes says. "Right now there is no interior enforcement by the feds. Those who enter the country illegally, who get past the border, they're home free."

The two amendments are scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Both face long odds of making it through the Legislature, which needs two-thirds votes to place the proposed amendments on the ballot.

Haynes says his amendment is likely to fail and that supporters are preparing a signature-gathering campaign to try to put it on the ballot next year as an initiative.

Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a conservative grass-roots organization, says supporters are considering a similar effort for the Wyland measure.

Two earlier attempts to put Wyland-like measures on the ballot failed to get enough signatures.

Malhotra suggests that the Wyland and Haynes amendments are attempts by Republicans to mobilize conservative voters.

"It's very base politicking," he says. "It shouldn't be something we tolerate as a diverse community."

Here's what else is going on at the Capitol this week:

BUDGET DEADLOCK:

The Senate has postponed its committee hearings this week, saying it needed to clear the way for negotiations and possible votes on a new state budget. But the Assembly says it can juggle hearings and budget action. "It will be business as usual," says Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles.

SOLAR POWER:

A bill backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to increase use of solar energy by giving homeowners and businesses rebates for installing solar panels faces a test Wednesday in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, the same committee that killed similar legislation last year.

HEALTH INSURANCE:

Sen. Sheila Kuehl's bill to create a universal health care system covering all Californians is scheduled for a vote Tuesday in the Assembly Health Committee, which approved the measure last year.

Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, says she feels very good about the bill's chances of passing the committee again, but says she won't try to move it to the Assembly floor until next year to give her time to work out the details of how to pay for the system.

"I don't believe in rushing through a plan just to have something," she said.

"If a whole sector of the population doesn't have access to health care, it jeopardizes the public health of everyone," says Vivek Malhotra, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union.

EXACTLY, YOU OBL-ACLU TRAITOR MORON!! That is why we have US Immigration Laws....Dumbo.....and why they need to be enforced in accordance with every clause, every paragraph, every subparagraph or every subparagraph, every word, every letter to the full spirit and intent of those LAWS which is to PROTECT AMERICAN CITIZENS AND OUR INVITED AND PERMITTED GUESTS!! Deport all illegal aliens now!

HEALTH INSURANCE:

Sen. Sheila Kuehl's bill to create a universal health care system covering all Californians is scheduled for a vote Tuesday in the Assembly Health Committee, which approved the measure last year.

Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, says she feels very good about the bill's chances of passing the committee again, but says she won't try to move it to the Assembly floor until next year to give her time to work out the details of how to pay for the system.

"I don't believe in rushing through a plan just to have something," she said.

Isn't this pathetic!! The greatest nation on earth has a population in its largest state that can not afford health insurance or pay its medical bills without it. Sure....don't rush it. Make sure you have all the "details" worked out. Make sure it conforms with the Poverty Plan of the Globbie Crones....make sure its the right price to keep them in poverty; to keep them dependent; to keep them Drones in exchange for a Doctor they can afford. Oh swell....! May I suggest you eject your illegal alien population present in your state; get Americans in California their jobs back; their wages and salaries back; their businesses back; their hospitals and trauma centers re-opened....and I'll bet if you just do this....you won't need a Universal Health Coverage Insurance Plan in California that you can't afford this year and unless we get our country back before the end of the year...you won't be able to afford anything next year!!

As expected both measures went down in defeat by a Democrat controlled assembly. Hopefully they can get a ballot initiative going to turn this into law.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 146D13.DTL


Assembly panel rejects illegal immigration measures
- By STEVE LAWRENCE, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, July 5, 2005


(07-05) 16:21 PDT SACRAMENTO, (AP) --


An Assembly committee on Tuesday rejected proposed constitutional amendments seeking to deny a series of benefits to illegal immigrants and create a state border police force, but both could resurface next year as ballot initiatives.


The Judiciary Committee voted 4-2 to turn down an amendment by Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-Del Mar, that would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving any health care or social services not required by federal law.


The committee also voted 5-2 to reject an amendment by Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, that would create a state border police force to supplement federal efforts to enforce immigration laws, including the ban on hiring illegal immigrants.


Republican lawmakers said illegal immigration costs California $9 billion to $10 billion a year in areas such as education, health care and incarceration and that the federal government isn't controlling the borders.


"The federal government has just abandoned state and local governments and is doing a terrible job on this...," Assemblyman Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach, said in support of the Wyland measure. "Something needs to be done. This is the right step in the right direction."


Opponents said both measures raised constitutional questions, that they could actually increase state costs and that the two lawmakers should be complaining to President Bush about inadequate immigration enforcement.


"If there's a need for greater security, that's a need the federal administration should be taking on," said Judiciary Committee chairman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento.


Haynes said California officials should "quit whining about the federal government doing their job and actually get about the business of doing our job â€â€