Thread: Md. bill could deny benefits to illegal immigrants

Md. bill could deny benefits to illegal immigrants
February 09, 2010 13:43 EST


ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell wants to prohibit state and local government agencies from giving most public benefits to adult illegal immigrants.

The Republican delegate wants to require state and local governments to verify adults are in the country legally before they provide most public benefits. The measure would block illegal immigrants from receiving public housing, welfare, food assistance, unemployment benefits and other subsidies.

O'Donnell's bill would allow undocumented residents to receive some benefits such as emergency health care, prenatal care, disaster relief and immunizations.

The House of Delegates Appropriations Committee has rejected similar measures in 2008 and 2009 but will hold a hearing on the bill Tuesday afternoon.

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On the Net:

Read House Bill 343: http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/bills/hb/hb0343f.pdf

http://www.foxbaltimore.com/template/in ... .com.shtml

keeping fingers crossed this will pass, but Casa De Maryland will most certainly do anything to stop it........

Added to homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article4911.html

Giving them free prenatal care is what is bringing so many of them here and keeping the ones already here from leaving. Once that citizen anchor child is born they never intend to leave.

A new move against illegal immigrants
Bill would require Md. prisons to notify U.S. of an inmate's status
By Julie Bykowicz | julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com

February 10, 2010


Some Maryland lawmakers want to require the state prison system to notify federal authorities when an inmate may be in the country unlawfully - potentially resurrecting last year's debate about how the state is responding to an influx of illegal immigrants.

The proposal, backed by a group of powerful Democratic senators that includes Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, came before a committee Tuesday. Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr. of Anne Arundel County said the measure could save the state millions by shifting incarceration costs away from the state by deporting more illegal immigrants.

Opponents of the bill, including the state Office of the Public Defender and immigrant-rights group Casa de Maryland, say it's unclear how prison officials are supposed to collect information about immigration status, which could lead to discrimination.

DeGrange said the bill comes as a response to a law that took effect in October, requiring prison officials to issue identification cards to all inmates upon release. The senator told the Senate Judiciary Committee that some lawmakers are concerned that illegal immigrants who are released and issued those cards could use them to obtain other forms of identification.

Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the prison system, said the cards given to newly released inmates are not official Maryland identification cards, which, like driver's licenses, now require documentation of lawful presence, such as a U.S. birth certificate.

In a hurried compromise at the end of last year's legislative session, lawmakers narrowly voted to prohibit driver's licenses from being issued to people without documentation that they are here legally. Maryland had been one of just four states without such restrictions, and had come to be seen as a destination for illegal immigrants, lawmakers argued.

"Maryland continues to be a major destination for immigrants," according to a legislative analysis prepared for DeGrange's bill. The report estimates that more than 225,000 undocumented men and women live in Maryland but notes a lack of reliable numbers in prisons.

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services took no position on DeGrange's bill but said the prison system now notifies the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency when prison officials suspect an inmate is in the country illegally.

DeGrange's proposal would expand the federal reporting requirement to parole and probation officials, potentially leading to deportations of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a crime but are supervised in the community rather than behind bars.

Information about a convicted criminal's immigration status is often contained in a presentencing report prepared for judges. DeGrange wants prison officals to include the status in every inmate's case file. The senators backing the bill say they want to make it clear that prison officials should be communicating with immigration officials.

In 2008, state prison officials notified federal authorities about 190 foreign-born inmates, and immigrations agents lodged detainers against 107 of them, meaning they could be deported after serving their state prison sentences. During that same period, prison officials said, 114 foreign-born inmates were released into Maryland communities. The prison system did not say how many of them were illegal immigrants eligible for deportation.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryla ... aryland%29

Very good. Illegal aliens must be deported now. We do not want illegal aliens in this country.

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

Opponents of the bill, including the state Office of the Public Defender and immigrant-rights group Casa de Maryland, say it's unclear how prison officials are supposed to collect information about immigration status, which could lead to discrimination.

surprise surprise.....casa de maryland bitching yet again.

$100 says they file a discrimination lawsuit.
and they'll get their money for their case from where they always get it from....the taxpayers of maryland.

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Please send a quick email to Mr. O'Donnell and express your support. This Bill failed twice....once in 2008 and once in 2009. Let's see if we can get it to pass in 2010!!!!!

anthony.odonnell@house.state.md.us

Hopefully soon we can find a list of who is in support of this bill and who is against it, so we can try and change the tides by writing to those who oppose this!

This would be a HUGE milestone for Maryland if this passes!!!!!