Thread: KS: GOP STATE SENATORS: IMMIGRATION BILL OFFERS REAL, SUBST

Posted on Tue, Apr. 01, 2008

GOP STATE SENATORS: IMMIGRATION BILL OFFERS REAL, SUBSTANTIVE REFORM

The following commentary was submitted by Wichita-area Republican state Sens. Jean Schodorf, Phil Journey, Les Donovan, Mike Petersen, Susan Wagle and Carolyn McGinn:

The Kansas Senate last week unanimously passed the Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Reform Act, which will crack down on illegal immigration in Kansas.

Several drafts of the bill were debated. We believe the Senate bill will toughen laws to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits through state programs, impose contempt of court sanctions on businesses that knowingly and repeatedly employ illegal immigrants, and deal harshly with those who participate in human trafficking for financial gain.

Senate Bill 458 would authorize the attorney general to impose sanctions ranging from jail time to fines against employers that engage in a pattern of practices of hiring illegal immigrants. It gives employers incentive to use E-Verify to confirm an individual's immigration status by assuring that employers that use the federal I-9 form will not be subject to a penalty if an illegal immigrant slips through the screening process. But it does not burden or penalize honest employers in any way.

In addition to cracking down on "bad actor" employers that hire illegal immigrants, the proposed legislation takes significant action against so-called "coyotes" who transport illegal immigrants into Kansas, often in some form of indentured servitude. Many times we have heard of vans of illegal immigrants being detained, only to have the driver and occupants released. In this bill, law enforcement would have the authority to arrest the person trafficking in human labor.

This bill also creates an illegal immigration enforcement division within the Attorney General's Office to take the lead in enforcement of existing state and federal immigration laws.

We understand how important strict interpretation and enforcement of laws relating to illegal immigrants are to the citizens of Kansas. We realize that this is probably one of the most important issues to our constituents. We believe that the Senate bill goes a long way to control illegal immigration and will help business stop hiring illegal immigrants.

The House also passed legislation last week. The two measures will be reconciled in a conference committee to address the differences and then be brought back to both chambers for a final vote.

We believe that Senate Bill 458 is real and substantive immigration reform for Kansas.

While immigration should be a federal issue, Congress has failed to step up and effectively deal with the problems arising from illegal immigration. This legislation will help law enforcement crack down on many of the problems associated with illegal immigration.

http://www.kansas.com/205/story/358321.html

Legislature tries to tackle illegal immigration issue
By: Owen Kennedy
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Local News
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1 Illegal immigration has been a priority of federal government, as well as state and local governments for years, and Kansas is no exception. After months of trying, the state legislature is close to an agreement on how to deal with illegal immigration.

The House and the Senate passed similar, but not identical, bills Friday. The House passed its version of a bill Friday afternoon and the Senate approved its version hours later. Rep. Sydney Carlin, D-Manhattan, said debate on the House bill was heated and was anything but quick and easy.

"It was hotly debated," Carlin said of the bill. "We did go through a lot of amendments to make the best bill."

She said many amendments were proposed during the debate, and the bill changed greatly during discussion. The final vote for the House version was 96-27.

The House bill would criminalize identity and voter fraud, and employers would be required to use a federal database, called E-Verify, that checks citizenship statuses of workers, according to a Kansas House Democratic Caucus press release.

Before the laws can go to the governor to be signed, the Senate and the House will have to pass the same bill. Carlin said that will take some work.

"We'll probably get another vote or two," she said.

The Senate's bill would outlaw human trafficking and using a false identity to get a job. In fact, the biggest point of disagreement for the legislation was how to deal with businesses that might hire illegal workers.

"It is an effort to crack down on businesses that knowingly hire illegal workers or recruit them to come work for them," Carlin said.

Carlin also said the House is wary of laws that are strict, and they hurt businesses in Kansas. She said other states have seen the effects of laws that go too far.

"Oklahoma has suffered a lot of devastation," she said. "Strict laws have caused an economic hit on their state. Immigrants are leaving the state, and they don't show up for work because they are afraid."



http://media.www.kstatecollegian.com/

Normalization----
That is the process that OK is gioing through right now. The numbers generated by the invaders resulted in a higher GDP for the stae and does not take into cionsideration the net. The net is what we live on folks. What good would it do to double your income and triple your bills????
So OK loses some amount (e.g. $4B and saves $6B in expenses, these are just wid guessses on my part). Had the invaders not come , the numbers would not have been inflated in the first place. OK should be proud of their politicians and proud of their patriotism.

Of course, unscrupulous landlords and employers will cry the blues as their ILLEGAL profits disappear.

It's really too bad that the next President will be looking to undo a lot of these state laws recently enacted. All three will be looking out for corporations rather than us citizens in regards to cheap illegal labor.

Compromise bill on illegal immigration stalls in House
Story by The Associated Press

4:14 p.m. Friday, April 4, 2008

The House stalled progress of a compromise version of illegal immigration legislation that lacks some of the original get-tough policies toward employers.

The chamber voted Friday 59-57 against a procedural vote that kept legislators from acting on the bill.

The lead House negotiator, Republican Arlen Siegfreid, said the vote was "bad timing" and said there may be a move to reconsider that vote. If the vote then prevails, it would put the chamber in position to vote on the bill.

Dealing with illegal immigration has been high on the agenda this year of many legislators, who say they are responding to constituents' concerns about the increased number of illegal immigrants in Kansas.

www.ktka.com