Bill on Illegal Immigrants Advances to Full House

By Matt Gouras
Associated Press
Jan. 14 2011
HELENA, MT

A legislative plan to ban illegal immigrants from receiving workers' compensation insurance benefits cleared its first committee hurdle and now goes to the full state House.

Backers of the proposal say it is needed to send a strong message to those wrongly employing illegal immigrants.

Opponents argue the workers will still get injured, and hospitals will have to pick up the tab for treating them in emergencies.

Montana State Fund says that in 2010, it so far only find eight claims out of more than 8,000 that had suspicious Social Security numbers that may indicate an illegal immigrant.

Another bill debated on Friday bans illegal immigrants from getting state drivers' licenses.

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