Thread: Wash: LEGAL Immigrants Push for Tougher Immigr. Enforcement

Legal Immigrants Push for Tougher Immigration Enforcement in Washington State

Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 11:35 AM EDT - posted on NumbersUSA

Seattle, Wash.

Two legal immigrants in Washington State are working on a ballot initiative that would crack down on illegal aliens living in the state. The ballot initiative would prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining a driver's license, require all public and private employers to use E-Verify, and deny non-emergency public benefits like in-state tuition.

Washington State is one of three states to offer driver's licenses to illegal aliens (view a map detailing all state laws). And if the state were to require an E-Verify mandate, it would join 13 other states that have already passed such laws, including Arizona, South Carolina and Mississippi who are the only three to require all employers to use the employment verification system.
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Lorie Graff and Tiarani Samsi both married U.S. citizens and followed the legal path to citizenship, including waiting in their home countries for processing. The two women are now working together to help collect signatures and answer questions in an effort to get I-1056 on the ballot.

"Everybody should have to follow the right path," Samsi told the Seattle Times. "That's only fair."

Organizers of the initiative have until July 2 to gather enough support to get it on the November ballot. Various groups have tried to get the initiative on the ballot for the past several years, but have been unsuccessful.

For more information, see the Seattle Times.

Proponents of the immigration-reduction initiative I-1056 in Washington State, also known as the Washington "Respect for Law" Act of 2010, are collecting signatures toward the 241,153 necessary to advance it for the November 2010 General Election ballot. The deadline for collecting signatures is July 2, 2010.

The initiative would require:

All public employers, private employers and labor organizations to utilize the online E-Verify "instant check" of name/SSN for workplace eligibility purposes;

State and local governments to verify legal presence through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program prior to the gifting of taxpayer-funded benefits;

The State’s Department of Licensing to verify legal presence through SAVE prior to driver's license issuance;

All persons charged with a felony or DUI to have their immigration status checked;

That no public employee be inhibited from cooperating with federal immigration authorities (anti-sanctuary city measure); and

State and local governments to participate in the Federal 287(g) program, which confers authority to enforce immigration laws.

Proponents encourage all Washington State registered voters to download the petition file from the website for printing upon 11"x17" paper only. Supporters may also order petitions via info@RespectWashington.us or (206) 935-3505.

To read the I-1056 legislation or support the effort, go to www.RespectWashington.us. Petition signers must mail signed petitions to Respect Washington by June 25th, or phone (206) 935-3505 for further instructions.

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All links within the original are available by clicking on the source link above.

Original article in the Seattle Times follows.

Immigrants push state initiative targeting those here illegally

Two women, both legal immigrants to the U.S., were answering questions and collecting signatures on what might seem an unlikely ballot initiative: one that would crack down on illegal immigrants living in Washington state.

By Lornet Turnbull

Seattle Times staff reporter

Lorie Graff married her American husband at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in the late 1950s, before returning to Canada to apply for a green card so she could live in the U.S. legally.

In the 1990s, Tiarani Samsi was able to finally follow her husband to the U.S. from Indonesia, after waiting three years for the legal papers.

On Sunday, the two women — now both U.S. citizens and close friends — stood outside the entrance to the Tastin' n Racin' Festival at Lake Sammamish Park, answering questions and collecting signatures on what might seem an unlikely ballot initiative: one that would crack down on illegal immigrants living in the state.

"Everybody should have to follow the right path," Samsi said. "That's only fair."

In the debate over illegal immigration, people like Samsi and Graff, who came to this country legally, seldom speak out against illegal immigration.

Rather, many legal immigrants lend their voices to marches and protests in the belief the fate of all immigrants is inextricably linked.

I-1056, the initiative Graff and Samsi support, would deny driver's licenses to all illegal immigrants in Washington state, one of only three states that allow it.

Additionally, it would deny them most nonemergency public benefits, including lottery winnings and college assistance.

It would require all employers — public and private — to use a federal verification system to identify illegal immigrants and require all government agencies, including law enforcement, to cooperate with immigration authorities.

Beginning in 2006 and every year since, one group or another of Washington citizens has tried — and failed — to get similar initiatives either on the statewide ballot or before the Legislature.

July 2 deadline

This year, they need at least 241,153 signatures by July 2 to get the measure on the November ballot. Craig Keller, an activist heading the initiative, said that without money their chances remain slim.

Even the state Republican Party, which held its convention in Vancouver, Wash., over the weekend, isn't supporting I-1056.

The measure was included in the "do not pass" packet of resolutions that failed to win party endorsement at the convention.

"There's a minority of influential people who are uncomfortable with an honest discussion with the immigration issue," Keller said. "They either want to recruit illegals into the party or they have a business interest in making money from the status quo."

Graff said her feelings about immigration haven't changed in the more than 50 years she's been in the U.S.

"I was married in the U.S. but chose to return to Canada, so I could come back here legally. That was important to me," she said.

It took four months for her paperwork to be processed. These days, it can take many years for separated spouses to reunite.

She recognizes that Canadians are treated much differently than Mexicans, although both come from countries that share a border with the U.S. Mexicans need a visa to enter the United States. Canadians and people from most European countries do not.

Further, most of the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. have no easy way to make themselves legal. Individuals would need an immediate family member, like a spouse, to petition on their behalf for legal status.

And even then, they may have to return to their home country and wait up to 10 years before they can return here legally.

Enforcement backed

Graff said the U.S. has the right to enforce its immigration laws.

"I understand the plight of poor people who continue to want to come here," she said. "But if you come here without going through the proper process you should be deported."

Samsi, who first came to the U.S. in 1995, three years after she and her husband married, said she understands the draw this country has on people like them — the economic advantages, the opportunities for a better life and education for their children.

But she said, "I believe you have to be legal if you want to work in the U.S."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com

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