Thread: FL-Legislation, bar benefits for undocumented immigrants

Legislation would bar benefits for undocumented immigrants
Kids of undocumented immigrants couldn't enroll in public school.
By Brandon Larrabee
Story updated at 6:00 AM on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009


TALLAHASSEE - Undocumented immigrants would be ineligible for some of the most basic government services, including public education, under a measure sponsored by a pair of Republican lawmakers.

The bill by Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach, and Sen. Carey Baker, a Eustis Republican running for agriculture commissioner, would require proof of legal residence before a Floridian could enroll in school, receive public benefits or get a driver's license.

It would also require state agencies to verify a potential employees' residency. Undocumented immigrants would also be barred from collecting lottery winnings.

But an immigration advocacy group said the measure is political grandstanding that won't solve the issue of illegal immigration and is in some cases redundant.

"What this bill is saying to illegal immigrants is, Florida is not going to be a fun place to be if you're an illegal immigrant," Adkins said.

Citing numbers from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports stricter limits on immigration, Adkins and Baker say the measure could save taxpayers billions of dollars at a time that the state is looking to fill a shortfall that could surpass $2 billion in the coming fiscal year.

"We've got to make choices about what Floridians can afford," Adkins said. "This bill is about choices, and I belive that all Floridians are better off when we make the choice to care for citizens first. Now is not the time to raise taxes simply so we can afford to provide services for people who are here illegally."

According to their figures, the state collects about $1.6 billion in taxes from undocumented immigrants but spends about $3.8 billion on benefits for them.

Of the state spending on illegal immigrants, the group says, about $3.5 billion goes to pay for education - an area that could be an emotional flashpoint for the debate.

"Quite frankly, that's not going to be an easy issue to address," Baker said. "But because the dollars are so large ... we have an obligation to take a look at this."

But the measure is about more than simply preventing immigrants from getting taxpayer-funded benefits, Baker said.

"It is to discourage them from coming to Florida in the first place," he said.

Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said the proposal was redundant and less focused on policy than electoral factors.

"Unfortunately, a lot of these bills are more about political posturing rather than solving any kind of issue," she said.

Rodriguez noted that undocumented immigrants are already barred from receiving many taxpayer-provided benefits and that barring the children of illegal immigrants from receiving an education might be unconstitutional and is aimed at children who simply followed their parents.

"They're being punished through no fault of their own," Rodriguez said.

She also said the solution to immigration problems won't come from the Legislature.

"We need federal immigration reform," Rodriguez said. "We don't need a patchwork of policies at the state level."

brandon.larrabee@jacksonville.com


http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009 ... s-Union%29

Let's cut the BS rodriguez, everyone in the world knows that illegal aliens are collecting mucho beaucoup $$$$$$ thru their anchor babies. A child's birth certificate should NOT be a free pass to welfare for illegal alien parents and their spawn. VERIFY the legal status and income of the parents of the welfare recipients. VERIFY that baby daddy lives in the same house with the family. When the mommies are "single" aka more welfare $$$$.

Our tax $$ should not go to educate and medicate illegal aliens. Find them and deport them. Keep families together, they ALL go![/quote]

"What this bill is saying to illegal immigrants is, Florida is not going to be a fun place to be if you're an illegal immigrant," Adkins said.

Florida is not a fun place for taxpayers who pick up the cost of benefits to illegals.

There is an absolutely NUTS OBLer posting to the comments at the source link. There's some fun to be had there.

But an immigration advocacy group said the measure is political grandstanding that won't solve the issue of illegal immigration and is in some cases redundant.

Redundant! Funny you should use that word. I'll tell you what is redudnant. Illegal invader after illegal invader breaching our border, ignoring our laws, having anchor spawn after anchor spawn, and collecting a myriad of benefits as a result. It happens over and over and over and over.

That's redundant!

Also redundant is the OBL groups screaming racial profiling when their precious illegals get caught.