Thread: Pay Extra fines if illegal and in jail..CA

Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Inmate tax proposed to bolster ER funds
Moorlach says illegal immigrants in jails should pay extra fines.
By NORBERTO SANTANA Jr.
The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Orange County supervisors are scrambling to find a new way to steer more taxes to fund overburdened hospital emergency rooms.

To date, they've been unwilling to use a state law allowing them to hike fines for traffic tickets. But Supervisor John Moorlach has another idea.

Tax illegal immigrants landing in Orange County jails.

"Why don't we penalize those people and then that becomes a revenue source for the emergency rooms in this county," Moorlach said. Referring to studies citing increased use of emergency rooms among undocumented immigrants, Moorlach asked, "Why don't you penalize people that are closer to the problem?"

Moorlach won support from his colleagues Tuesday to study how to implement a fine on the rising number of illegal immigrants being identified in county and Costa Mesa jails.

Moorlach figures a fine between $250 and $400 per inmate should generate the $3.5 million annual subsidy advocated by the Hospital Association of Southern California to help them recover the costs of providing services.

Local activists were stunned by the idea.

"Truly inhuman," said Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County. "I just can't fathom it. I thought I'd heard everything. It just doesn't stop."

"I'm not proposing penalizing every undocumented person, I'm just going after those who have been arrested," said Moorlach. "I'm just using a model that our state legislature has provided."

State Sen. Lou Correa also slammed the idea.

"Nobody talks about the benefits that the undocumented bring to this economy. It's sad. These people can't vote and they don't have a say, so they're a target."

Yet the idea of fining illegal immigrants isn't new. Last year, one component of federal legislation aimed at reforming the immigration system included a $2,000 fine for undocumented residents who sought to become citizens.

A host of local cities and counties also have been coming up with a host of penalties and fines aimed at undocumented immigrants. One recent proposal in Escondido sought to fine landlords who rented apartments to undocumented immigrants.

"It demonstrates what a quagmire illegal immigration is," said Costa Mesa Mayor Alan Mansoor of Moorlach's idea. "I think the taxpayers are getting tired of footing the bill."

Peter Zamora, acting regional counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, acknowledged that "we've witnessed an increase in anti-immigrant state and local proposals. It's critical that Congress act on comprehensive immigration reform as soon as possible to relieve pressure at the state and local level."

Zamora said he would await more specifics on the proposed Orange County tax before commenting but did note that such a plan "potentially raises a host of legal and constitutional concerns, not least of which is that only the federal government can generally regulate in the field of immigration."

Contact the writer: Register news researcher Michael Doss contributed to this report 714-796-2221 or nsantana@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ne ... 566598.php

This will never go. The UCLA and all the pro-illegal groups will jump on this. We have laws for deportation and fining those that support illegals we just need to enforce the laws on the books.