Thread: TX: Legislation would strip benefits from U.S.-born children

There have been threads I could have added this to but thought it deserved it's own post. Go Texas!
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http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/+/2 ... immigrants

Legislation would strip benefits from U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants

The Washington Post


Tuesday February 27, 2007
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Lone Star State has long welcomed Hispanic immigrants, no matter how they got across the state's 1,200-mile border with Mexico.

Back when another border state, California, voted to cut public services to illegal immigrants, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush was preaching that immigrants were equal players in the state's economy.

But the atmosphere has changed in Texas, home to roughly 10 percent of the United States' illegal immigrants. Now, a growing chorus of Republicans and some Democrats is pushing some of the harshest immigration-related measures in the United States -- laws that would not only deny public services to illegal immigrants, but strip their American-born children of benefits as well.

The proposal to deny services to American citizens -- believed to be the first in the country -- is part of a push to challenge the citizenship given automatically to children born in this country.

Prior rulings have affirmed that nearly all such children were entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. But some legal scholars have questioned whether the amendment, which redefined national citizenship to include the children of slaves after the Civil War, should cover babies born to foreign parents. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated last year that more than 3 million U.S. citizens were born to illegal immigrant parents.

``The Texas bill could be a vehicle to get this before the courts, and we strongly support that,'' said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has been pushing Congress to revisit the 14th Amendment. ``There is no question that it is time for a review, given the number of people entering the country illegally and giving birth.''

Texas' shift toward a more incendiary brand of immigration politics comes at a time when many state lawmakers are frustrated that Washington has failed to stop illegal immigration. Few think that President Bush's moderate proposals, which include a guest-worker program and enhanced border security, will help much, even if they are approved by Congress.

Leo Berman, the Republican Texas legislator who wrote the bill to deny benefits to the children of illegal immigrants, admits that his goal is to set off a fight in the federal courts.

His legislation has been compared to California's Proposition 187, which would have denied illegal immigrants social services, health care and public education, but was ruled unconstitutional after that state's voters approved it in 1994.

The Texas bill goes further: It would deny citizens born to illegal immigrants numerous state services, including unemployment benefits and the ability to obtain professional licenses.

``A pregnant illegal alien can wait at the border, check into a hospital in Texas, give birth without paying a penny, and be rewarded for her illegal behavior,'' Berman said. ``That's outrageous.''

Berman's bill is one of more than two-dozen proposals targeting illegal immigration in Texas. Other measures would:

* tax money that illegal immigrants wire abroad;

* require patients to prove they are in the country legally before receiving state medical services;

* eliminate in-state college tuition breaks for illegal immigrants;

* require state agencies to do a thorough accounting of how much illegal immigration is costing the state.

Texas is home to between 1 million and 2 million illegal immigrants.

``Why should illegal immigrants, who by virtue of being in the country have broken the law, be able to get the same state services as a citizen?'' asked state Sen. Royce West, a Democrat from Dallas who is proposing one of several measures to tax remittances to Mexico. He said his legislation was one way to raise money for health-care programs.

Texas politicians say proposing such laws would have been unimaginable a decade ago. During his days as governor, Bush regularly praised the cultural and economic contributions Hispanic immigrants were making to the state. His political strategy paid off: He won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 1998, a number previously considered unreachable for a Republican.

The Texas Republican Party added hard-line immigration language to its platform last year in response to the demands of its conservative base. It included the line ``No amnesty! No how. No way'' and a call to ``suspend automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrant parents,'' the idea now proposed by Berman.

Hispanic leaders say they are stunned by the Texas proposals to deny services to children. They promise retaliation at the ballot box.

``How could anyone be so mean-spirited?'' said Rosa Rosales, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's oldest Hispanic civil rights group, which originated in Texas. ``We're just going to have to get the community out to show these representatives that we matter.''

Last year, state lawmakers nationwide proposed a record 570 immigration measures and 84 were signed into law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The group predicts that immigration will again be among the hottest state issues in 2007.

In Texas, Democratic state Rep. Pete Gallego, head of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus in the House of Representatives, said that though some of the new proposals are harsh, a few might have momentum, particularly the bills to tax wire transfers.

``People are appalled at how hard-core some of these things are,'' Gallego said. ``We will have a fight.''

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a conservative Republican who talked tough on illegal immigration during his re-election campaign last year, has tempered his rhetoric and sounded a message of compassion and unity during his oath-of-office address in January. He has singled out Berman's proposal as divisive.

Berman counters that his bill may not make him the darling of Austin's lobbyists or his governor, but he is convinced that his cause is popular.

``My mail is running 30 to 1 in favor of what I am trying to do,'' he said. ``This problem is costing Texas money. Texas has to act.''

2 illegals can't make an American.

Dixie

Wonder if Perry will sign the bill if it manages to pass. anchor babies should not be US citizens, they should be citizens of the country where they parents come from. Illegals should not be rewarded for illegal behavior. If anchor babies were not made US citizens, many illegals would not be here. They come to have babies and rob the american people.

Berman was on the John and Ken show tonight talking about this 14th amendment situation. Berman expects it to be challenged of course, in fact, he said he hopes it is challenged so it can finally go all the way to the Supreme Court.

How could anyone be so mean-spirited?'' said Rosa Rosales, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's oldest Hispanic civil rights group, which originated in Texas. ``We're just going to have to get the community out to show these representatives that we matter.''

By all means get the " community" out so you can make more Americans angry! !