Thread: WI Bill: Proof of citizenship needed for public services

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/dulut ... 573013.htm

Posted on Sat, May. 13, 2006

Bill: Proof of citizenship needed for public services

TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - Illegal immigrants in Wisconsin would be cut off from state prescription drug discounts, the state's health insurance program for the working poor and Social Security benefits under a bill sitting on Gov. Jim Doyle's desk.

Under the Republican-authored measure, only U.S. citizens or lawful immigrants would be eligible for public benefits from the state Health and Family Services and Workforce Development departments. Applicants would have to show proof of citizenship or legal immigration status. State workers would have to certify the documents' authenticity or face fines.

Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, the bill's author, said his constituents have told him in listening sessions they want a measure like this one.

He's convinced illegal immigrants are flocking to Wisconsin because it's easy to cheat the system. For too many years government has closed its eyes to growing immigration problems, he said. Now it's hard to ignore, he said.

Just in the last few weeks, thousands of Latinos have taken to the streets in major cities around the country to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants, saying they're a crucial cog in the nation's economy.

"It's gotten to the point that people see with their eyes a little bit more that their country is changing around them," Reynolds said. "Wisconsin is a magnet for illegal immigrants because of our lax process of not checking into whether people are illegals."

His measure represents another attempt by Republicans who control the state Legislature to stiffen Wisconsin's immigration laws.

The governor in March signed a GOP bill that requires Wisconsin driver's license applicants to provide proof of citizenship. Earlier this month, Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, introduced a bill that would have ensured county benefits workers are allowed to ask applicants about their immigration status. That bill came in response to a Dane County ordinance that prevents benefits workers from asking about applicants' citizenship, but the measure fell short of passage.

"It seems to be one after the other, one after the other as if they don't have anything else to worry about. They're looking at the immigrant community as the scapegoat for everything these days," said Alfonso Zepeda-Capistran, former president of Latinos United for Change and Advancement, a Madison-based nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of Hispanics' lives.

A dozen groups have reported lobbying on Reynolds' bill, according to the state Ethics Board. All but one are against it. The only exception - Milwaukee County - doesn't have a position.

Opponents say the bill would hurt poor illegal immigrants who need help the most. The measure also would drive up administrative costs and block benefits for U.S. citizens who don't have birth certificates or other documents, they say.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, director of the immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera in Milwaukee, said Reynolds is exaggerating the number of illegal applicants.

She pointed to a state audit of 200 randomly selected 2002 Medical Assistance cases that found no applicant with questionable citizenship was approved. The audit also examined 101 denials, turning up eight instances where an applicant couldn't get benefits because of questionable citizenship.

"It's hate-mongering," she said of the bill. "You're talking about disenfranchising ... people in the state of Wisconsin from some of the most basic social safety nets."

Federal law already requires proof of citizenship for Wisconsin's welfare-to-work program, or W-2, Medicaid and food stamps. Under current state law, benefits workers ask applicants for other programs if they're in the country legally. If the applicant answers yes, the workers don't have to verify the statement.

Reynolds' bill would expand the citizenship requirement for any program administered by the state Health and Family Services and Workforce Development departments, including BadgerCare, the state's health insurance program for the poor; SeniorCare, the state's enormously popular prescription drug discount program for seniors; eligibility for state grants counties use to cover people's health care costs; and state supplemental payments to federal Social Security.

Each agency would be able to define acceptable documentation. Intake workers who don't verify those documents would face a $250 fine.

"It is supposedly illegal for benefits to go to illegal immigrants. But the process is so open and easy to neglect that. This just tightens it up," Reynolds said.

Charity Eleson, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, said the bill could freeze out elderly and disabled U.S. citizens who don't have easy access to birth certificates or other documents.

"Not too many of us carry our birth certificates around with us all the time," Eleson said. "It's a big blunt instrument that is not necessary."

Reynolds scoffed at that.

"Who doesn't have documentation that they have been in the country legally forever?" he said. "They make up just this rhetoric, which is nonsense."

Doyle, a Democrat, can either sign the bill into law or veto it. It's unclear which way the governor is leaning. Spokesman Matt Canter said Doyle is still reviewing the legislation.

In a March letter to the Wisconsin Migrant Coalition, the governor said he had to sign the driver's license bill to comply with federal mandates. He went on to say he opposes Reynolds' bill, calling it "an insult to our immigrant community" that would prevent innocent children from getting basic help.

Zepeda-Capistran hopes Doyle puts his money where his mouth is.

"Saying he opposes it is not enough in my book," he said.

ON THE NET

Wisconsin Legislature: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/

Thak goodness, finally. I have been writing him as of late.

These uneducated, filthy, disease ridden and poverty stricken parasites violate our sovereignty. They use fraudulent documentation to obtain services that taxpayers have spent their whole lives paying into which illegal aliens who came across the border 2 days ago are receiving and have paid no taxes. And to top it off these scheister illegal alien advocates and lawyers justify their actions by saying if illegal aliens were legalized and were citizens this wouldn't be occuring. They run to the ALCU and other organizations to force taxpayers to subsize the existence of these third world bugs. These illegal aliens view with a jealous eye eveything we have worked for our entire lives and reason that since they don't have it they are entitled to it as well. We need to build a wall and electrify it.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=423793

Advocacy groups push Doyle to veto bill
Measure limits public assistance to those who can prove eligibility
By GEORGIA PABST
gpabst@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 14, 2006
Several advocacy organizations are pressuring Gov. Jim Doyle to veto a bill that would limit eligibility for public assistance programs to those who can prove they are citizens or qualified immigrants.

But even if he doesn't sign the bill, new federal legislation scheduled to go into effect in July could require even stricter proof of citizenship for Medicaid-related benefits than the bill passed by the Legislature.

Jason Helgerson, executive assistant to the secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services, said under a recent measure passed by Congress, two forms of proof of citizenship would be required, such as a birth certificate or a passport and a photo ID to sign up for Medicaid-related programs such as BadgerCare, Family Care and Food Share.

But the federal government has not provided guidelines for those regulations, so right now there's confusion on what the federal law will mean and how it might relate to the state legislation, he said.

No matter what happens with the state legislation, there will be a new process for determining citizenship for Medicaid-related programs, Helgerson said.

Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow said the governor has not made a decision on the bill.

"It was one of a number of bills passed in the middle of the night (of the last day of the session), and the governor is still working through that bill and a number of others," he said

Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant workers rights organization, the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families, along with faith-based groups and others, are urging Doyle to veto the measure that would require proof of citizenship to receive benefits from programs operated by the Department of Workforce Development or the Department of Health and Family Services. This includes such benefits as medical assistance, food stamps and Wisconsin Works, or W-2, the state's welfare reform program.

The Assembly passed the bill in the late hours of May 4. The Senate passed it in February.

Senate sponsor Sen. Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) said that he held a listening session about a year ago, and some constituents told him they believed Wisconsin is a magnet for illegal immigrants "because of the lax system we have in place for people who apply for tax funded benefits. I started looking into it, and I believe that's accurate."

Under current law, people applying for public assistance programs, including Medicaid, BadgerCare, Food Share and W-2, make a declaration of citizenship or satisfactory immigration status. If necessary, they may be required to provide additional documentation.

But Reynolds said he believes that process is too loose.

"It's no big thing to have to bring a birth certificate or prove that you're here legally," he said. "It will save the taxpayers money."

He could not say exactly how much money would be saved or what the cost of providing a greater level of verification would be.

Because there was no fiscal analysis of the bill, it's impossible to tell what the cost might be, said Charity Eleson, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families.

She said the bill will also have "unintended consequences" for many eligible low-income individuals, the elderly and those with mental illness and other disabilities.

Many low-income people do not have passports and cannot access their birth certificates, she said. It would also affect the homeless and victims of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina who lost their birth certificates and other important documents, she said.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces De La Frontera, an immigrant rights organization, called the legislation "hate mongering and an effort to try to continue to promote the message that immigrants are a drain on public benefits."

She said the legislation would also lead to more racial profiling because minorities or those with an accent "will be treated with mistrust."