Thread: Texas lawmakers vow to crack down on illegal immigration

Texas lawmakers vow to crack down on illegal immigration
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 04/26/2008 09:45:05 AM MDT


AUSTIN -- Watching as states around the country take immigration into their own hands, Texas lawmakers who failed last year to crack down on illegal border crossers have vowed to catch up in 2009.
Last year, state lawmakers nationwide submitted more than 1,500 immigration-related bills, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than 200 of those proposals became new laws in 46 states.

Texas neighbor Oklahoma and fellow border state Arizona have adopted some of the toughest anti-immigration measures, and at a hearing this week some Lone Star lawmakers said they hope to follow suit.

"I think God would have us work on it and vote," said state Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball.

But lawyers and some business groups in Arizona and Oklahoma said immigration restrictions there have hurt businesses and have created a mass exodus of not just undocumented immigrants but of Hispanic citizens.

"The perception from the Hispanic community is they have been solely targeted by a bunch of racist rednecks," said Campbell Cooke, an immigration attorney in Tulsa.

The city, he said, has lost about half its Hispanic population since Oklahoma legislators adopted anti-immigration legislation and Tulsa police began enforcing federal immigration laws.

Among other things, the Oklahoma law requires public employers to use a federal system to verify employee citizenship, and later this year all contractors and subcontractors with public agencies will also have to use the system.

Employers would also be subject to a discrimination lawsuit in Oklahoma if they fired an employee who is a citizen while keeping a worker who is undocumented.

Under the law, transporting or "harboring" an undocumented immigrant is a felony offense. It also requires anyone older than 14 to provide proof of citizenship before receiving public benefits, except for some emergency services.

"This has a huge impact throughout the community, both social and from an economic and workforce perspective," Cooke said.

Arizona adopted even more stringent employer penalties, requiring all companies to conduct citizenship checks for their workers or risk losing their operating licenses.

Ann Seiden, spokeswoman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it's difficult to gauge whether economic slowdowns there have been caused by the new laws or by the overall financial troubles nationally.

But she said businesses have been confused about their new responsibilities and what liabilities they might face.

"It's created an atmosphere of uncertainty, and that was our greatest fear," Seiden said.

Arizona state Rep. Russell Pearce wrote much of the anti-immigration legislation. He said claims of economic woes and Hispanic exodus specious lies.

"It's a huge economic boon," he said.

With immigrants leaving the state, he said, taxpayers would save on costs for education, health care and public safety. And, he said, wages would go up because employers would not have a readily available supply of cheap labor.

And, he said, those in the country legally have no reason to flee the state.

"The goal is to not to incentivize people to break our laws," Pearce said.

Texas lawmakers last year filed dozens of bills meant to force undocumented immigrants to leave the state.

None of the major restrictions made it far in the process, though, after the lawmaker overseeing the bills asked the Texas attorney general to review them. State Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, said he wanted to ensure Texas didn't wind up in losing lawsuits over unconstitutional measures. Instead, he concentrated on a law that put $110 million into border security.

The measures also faced stiff opposition from civil rights and business groups.

Disappointed that Texas has fallen behind other states, state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said he would file legislation to follow their lead.

He said the Oklahoma economy is improving as thousands of immigrants leave the state.

Any positive impact undocumented immigrants have on the Texas economy, he said, is outweighed by their cost to the state in public services.

At the very least, Berman said, Texas should implement laws that punish employers who hire undocumented workers, should make English the state's official language, should require photo identification for voting and should restrict non-citizens' access to public benefits.

By not stopping illegal immigration, he said, elected leaders are allowing "multiculturalism to prevail and flourish."

"We are a nation of laws, and if we continue on this path, we will lose the great republic that our forefathers gave to us," Berman said.

State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, said anti-immigration measures are not targeted at Hispanics, but are meant to ensure national security.

"We're not just talking about Mexico," Flynn said. "We have a concern about all the folks coming over our southern border."

Kathleen Campbell Walker, lawyer with Brown McCarroll in El Paso and president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Texas lawmakers should expect a surge of lawsuits and a departure of businesses if they adopt measures like Oklahoma and Arizona did.

"You're going to have racial profiling; you're going to have proliferation of discrimination," she said. "Do we really want to go back to an era like the civil rights era?"

Companies, she said, are already beginning to have trouble deciphering the patchwork of immigration laws that states are adopting in addition to existing federal regulations.

"It will drive you loony tunes," she said. "I don't know if a Ouija board is enough to help you figure it out."

Bill Lenderman, who lives on El Paso's East Side, said controlling immigration is not about race but is about maintaining American sovereignty.

"They'll destroy the culture of the country," he said of undocumented immigrants.

Lenderman said Texas lawmakers should follow Oklahoma's example.

"Tell them you're not welcome here," he said, "go away, no benefits and no jobs."

Brandi Grissom can be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; (512)479-6606.


http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_9065694

Kathleen Campbell Walker, lawyer with Brown McCarroll in El Paso and president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Texas lawmakers should expect a surge of lawsuits and a departure of businesses if they adopt measures like Oklahoma and Arizona did.

Doesn't Kathleen mean her business of providing legal services to illegal aliens will suffer. Texas wants to run her customers off. Her customers are a bi-product of illegal immigration. Oh, the lawsuit threat, well I wouldn't expect anything less coming from an attorney.

She knows which side her bread is buttered on and so do we.

Dixie

"We are a nation of laws, and if we continue on this path, we will lose the great republic that our forefathers gave to us," Berman said.


This is a nation that gives until it hurts and keeps on giving.
But it looks like Americans everywhere are waking up to the fact that this problem must be solved and illegal immigration stopped. Its about time.

Employers would also be subject to a discrimination lawsuit in Oklahoma if they fired an employee who is a citizen while keeping a worker who is undocumented.

Who cares if a business illegally employing illegal aliens gets sued for discrimination. Isn't the term for that poetic justice?

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power."
Franklin D. Roosevelt