Rep. Ernest Wooton pulls bill banning help to illegal immigrants

Published: Monday, June 13, 2011, 2:01 PM Updated: Monday, June 13, 2011, 2:01 PM

By Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune

BATON ROUGE -- Faced with a budget hit of $11 million, Rep. Ernest Wooton, I-Belle Chasse, today pulled his bill requiring police to check on the legal status of immigrants when arrested and banning them from receiving state assistance.

"As much as I hate doing this, I will voluntarily defer my bill," Wooton said. "I don't have $11 million in my pocket; I'm about a half million short."

Wooton's action prevents his bill from advancing, killing it for the session.

Wooton knew his House Bill 411 bill was in trouble two weeks ago when it passed by the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations but got re-assigned to the House Appropriations Committee to study its costs.

When the costs came back at $11 million, he said, that doomed the measure's chances. The appropriations panel and the Senate Finance Committee are looking at ways to plug a $1.6 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year starting July 1.

"This is something we need to do," a term-limited Wooton said of a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the state. "Keep in mind the word 'illegal,'" he said. "All I am asking is that they be here legally."

Besides denying benefits to those who are in the state illegally, police would have to check their status when arrested for another crime. If their status could not be determined, the detainee would have to be jailed until the status could be determined.

The bill also would have made it a crime for someone to transport an illegal immigrant to a doctor or church if the person knew the foreigner was in the state illegally.

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