Orr: Sue feds over immigration costs
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dingram@charlotteobserver.com

RALEIGH --Bob Orr, a Republican candidate for N.C. governor, said Tuesday that, if elected, he would consider suing the federal government to try to recoup costs related to illegal immigration.

"If they are unable to fulfill their responsibilities, then I think we have to sue the federal government," Orr said at a news conference. "Unfortunately, if we don't do something like this, there is very little incentive on the part of the federal government to actually take constructive steps to solve this problem."

Orr pointed to higher costs for education, health-care and other government services that the U.S. Supreme Court has required states to provide to all residents. Illegal immigrants, he said, do not pay enough in taxes to cover their share, and he called for a thorough study of the net cost.

One of five GOP candidates for governor, Orr is a former N.C. Supreme Court justice. He left the court in 2004 and started the conservative N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, which sued the state of North Carolina over the creation of the lottery and over targeted incentives for Dell.

Several states, including California, sued the federal government in the 1990s over immigration costs. They were unsuccessful, but Orr said that neither the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which stretches from Maryland to South Carolina, nor the Supreme Court ever heard the issue.

"Litigation always takes time," Orr said. "If nothing else, if you had a group of states, with all the attorneys general coming together to bring this litigation, it brings enormous practical pressure on the Congress."
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