Thread: OP-ED: Citizenship verification bill needs some work

Our view: Citizenship verification bill needs some work
Public Opinion Online
Posted: 04/03/2009 02:00:00 AM EDT

No matter where one might stand on illegal immigration, a little thought on the matter reveals some potential problems with legislation that cleared the state Senate on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 9 passed the Senate on a 41-9 vote, as lawmakers rushed to support a bill to deny public benefits such as Medicaid, welfare and in-state college tuition to illegal aliens.

The bill would also require everyone requesting public benefits to provide identification proving they are legal residents, and sign an affidavit affirming as much. That affidavit would be verified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlement Program (SAVE), now operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This bill has its heart in the right place, insofar as no one should illegally benefit from the taxpayer-funded assistance system. But it fails to address some crucial, practical issues inherent to such fraud.

The entire premise of the bill hinges on valid identification. But those illegals who do defraud the system already possess effective identification, and already elude a SAVE Program that's existed since 1984.

That being the case, those who say the bill is redundant might have a point. Adding an affidavit to the equation only lays groundwork for punitive measures, while very likely slowing verification and increasing its costs. Furthermore, a quick review of the SAVE Program shows so many exceptions that it's not hard to see how resourceful illegals or the companies who hire them slip through the cracks.

Finally -- in a nasty poser for those who are both anti-illegal and anti-spending -- it will cost millions for the state to implement, according to people in Gov. Ed Rendell's office.

In the short-term, we think it would be more effective to spend time, money and effort developing tamper-proof identification and targeting those who falsify identification documents in the meantime. From a big-picture perspective, until the federal government takes an effective role in border enforcement and discouraging the real source of illegal immigration -- companies that employ them -- we will always have this problem.

Dreaming up expensive, redundant ideas that might not work -- just to pacify those willing to accept bad policy to do something, anything, about a problem that's not really a state issue in the first place -- is not the answer.

-- By Matthew Major, on behalf of Public Opinion's editorial board
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_1 ... st_emailed

This sucks!

I just got done watching the YouTube Free-version of "The Obama Deceit."

I'm overwhelmed and actually feel like crying.... there is SO MUCH evidence, yet N O T H I N G is done about it. Luckily he hasn't had these people killed .............YET!!!

I think people in towns should get people gathered to watch this movie all together. Then a couple of weeks later watch another eye-opening movie exposing the truth. We need to wake people up.

Illegal immigration and Obama birth issues have so many people in high places trying to wield their powers to STOP us from knowing anything.

Then they are going to stop us from using the Internet to go anywhere on the web that we want. It will be regulated and you buy packages of websites. WELL I need the whole damn Internet to research these things.

Hate Speech Bills saying we can't use the term illegal if it's directed at illegal people who are here?

People don't understand that the way Hitler got done what he did is the same route Obama, CFR, Bilderberg, and the Tri-Lateral Commission.

Then Obama wants an ARMY HE controls so he's doing those Youth Soldiers, a million of them, JUST LIKE Hitler did! The Congress passed the 3 Billion for him to do it on the same day the jerks were trying to tax 215 million in Bonus's by AIG???

We need more people to get the word out to the Kool-Aid drinkers. I feel helpless today.