Senator’s call to check citizenship of Hispanic voters draws fire


Fueled by a surge in the Hispanic population, Florida will get two new congressional district. A state senator wants Hispanic voters to prove they are citizens first.




By Mary Ellen Klas And Michael C. Bender
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- A state senator’s comments ignited a fierce rebuke from his colleagues Thursday when he said that voters should be screened for citizenship before legislators draw a congressional district to favor Hispanics.

Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, rekindled the divisive debate over illegal immigration when he told the Senate committee reviewing a series of congressional redistricting plans that “before we design a district anywhere in the state of Florida for Hispanic voters, we need to ascertain that they are citizens of the United States.

"We all know there are many Hispanic-speaking people in Florida that are not legal,’’ he said. “And I just don’t think it’s right that we try to draw a district that encompasses people that really have no business voting anyhow,â€