Thread: Common Sense Immigration Reform

Since our nation's founding, immigrants have invigorated us, and as an integral part of American culture, they have made us a better and stronger people.

Illegal immigration on the other hand, has cost our state billions in lost tax revenue and billions more in direct payments that are unfunded mandates by a Federal government, that claims exclusive domain over immigration, except when it comes to paying the bill.

For far too long, our elected officials have avoided their fiduciary duty to the taxpayers of California by claiming that illegal immigration is a "Federal issue". For the whole five minutes it takes an illegal alien to cross into our state, it is a Federal issue. However, for the next 5, 10 or 20 years between amnesties, it is a state and local issue. You don't need to be told that unchecked immigration, both legal and illegal, has overwhelmed our schools, hospitals, prisons, and our limited public resources. Five years ago, most politicians were afraid to speak about this issue; now it is time to begin implementing solutions instead of just talking about the problem.

The bill to pay the costs of illegal immigration comes to your mailbox disguised as a 40% increase in the cost of your health insurance, a car registration fee that the legislature recently doubled or a cut in the sports or music programs at your child's school.

No matter what you call it, this is taxation. Moreover, when no one has the courage to act on your behalf to stop this unsustainable policy, illegal immigration is best described as "taxation without representation."

What can we do?



1. Make E-Verify mandatory for every company, and every State agency in California.
 This does not require any new agency to be created. It is simply makes mandatory the use of a system that is currently available, enabling every employer to comply with the law in an efficient manner.

2. Make US Citizenship a requirement of every non-emergency direct public benefits offered by the State.


3. Make room in every California prison by deporting every illegal alien in our prisons, who is not on death row or serving life in prison. We are paying 51,000 per year per prisoner to feed, clothe, house and give free healthcare to people who stole into our country and then committed a crime serious enough to require incarceration. (See Prisoner Exchange Program/Solutions Page: http://www.donnellyforassembly.com/issues/) This would free up much needed space in our prisons, and save as much as $1.5 billion in direct costs, enabling us to work on much needed prison reforms like the public/private partnership program that has brought the cost of incarceration in Texas down to the national average of 19,000 per year.

4. Make sanctuary cities illegal in California
. (A bill by Assemblyman Bill Emmerson (R-Rancho Cucamonga) seeks to bar "sanctuary cities" from sending suspected illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds to other counties. AB 2333 would prohibit a county probation officer from placing an offender suspected of being in the country illegally in a residential group facility in another county.)

5. Make the border secure by pressuring the Federal government to complete the fence that has already been authorized under the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Good fences help Border Patrol agents cover more territory more effectively.

6. End the In-State College tuition benefit to illegal aliens ( AB 2159 (Assemblyman Joel Knight, R-La Mesa) which will repeal the law that awards in state tuition to illegal aliens.)

7. Work with legal experts to challenge Federal Mandates to provide benefits such as a free K-12 Education, and free non-emergency medical care (delivered at our already over-crowded emergency rooms). These unfunded mandates are illegal according the Constitution, the 9th and 10th Ammendments, and they violate existing Federal immigration law, making it illegal to grant benefits to any person in the country illegally. We can start by challenging legal precedents such as the 1992 Plyer v. Doe case, which forces every state to provide a K-12 education to those in this country illegally. We could then go after the 1985 EMTALA law to get it changed so that doctors and hospitals are exempt from penalties for refusing treatment for non-life threatening conditions. This would have an immediate effect on the abuse of our emergency rooms, and would reduce the overall cost of health insurance. These types of mandates from the Federal Government are a huge impediment to reforming our schools, our health care system and balancing our budget.


8. End birthright citizenship: the purpose of the 14th Amendment was to give full rights to the children of slaves, not create the current chaos of second class citizenship, where the parents enter illegally, and the children are citizens.

9. Oppose all attempts to offer a general amnesty to the untold tens of millions of illegal aliens here in the United States. The last amnesty sponsored by President Reagan, brought in three times as many illegal aliens, as it proposed to legalize, including millions who rushed the border to get the amnesty by fraudulent means. Border Patrol is already reporting higher numbers of apprehensions since President Obama mentioned amnesty as one of his top priorities. If the 1986-2006 amnesty is an accurate predictor, we should expect 20-30 million people to apply for any amnesty that is passed. And that would only hold true it the much touted 12 million number is accurate. Since when is an idea (amnesty) considered a solution when it results in double or triple of the problem you are trying to solve.

10) Remove the word “knowinglyâ€

Welcome, Tim! And you are absolutely correct! The term "knowingly hire" is so much claptrap, as employers can easily claim they are not document experts. Well, that "I didn't know" proclamation sure does not work with the IRS!
Thank you for your stand.

3. Make room in every California prison by deporting every illegal alien in our prisons, who is not on death row or serving life in prison. We are paying 51,000 per year per prisoner to feed, clothe, house and give free healthcare to people who stole into our country and then committed a crime serious enough to require incarceration.

Most of what you said sounds good, however, I can't agree with deporting "every illegal alien in our prisons who is not on death row or serving life in prison." Illegal or not, do the crime do the time. IMO, deportation is not a penalty. Now, I might possibly take your suggestion seriously if there was a guarantee that the illegals would not return, but I think we both know that no such guarantee can be given. Basically, I cannot see giving a rapist, drug pusher, or armed mugger a free pass so he can reenter the country 30 days later to resume a life of crime.

Welcome Tim,
I actually started posting a few weeks ago, as I was driven to action by a fellow candidate in your race; Ken Hunter.
He wrote on another blog that I follow; (paraphrasing) " all the rednecks, minutemen and unibombers are coming out of the woodwork".
I thought he was talking about me; turns out he was talking about you.

I liked what Mr. Hunter talked about (very angry at politics as usual); that's why I liked him. but he lost me when he made that comment about minutemen. He was the one who let me know about you by making that comment.
I spent some time on your website a few weeks ago, (its hard to read, you have to much on it). anyways, I like what you have to say so I joined your 5 x 5 project.
I might even put up one of your yard signs to help support you. (I was a minutemen)(and I have to get active at some point).
Just Saying

Oh, and Tim,
you might want to mention at the top of the post that your are a candidate with these views; as I skipped this thread at first because of the title. Then I almost stopped reading the long post until I saw that it was written by a candidate.
Just Saying

TimDonelly, welcome! Hope you stay around with us.

You sound like you have a good idea about what needs to be done for your state, and I hope you can get the votes needed. If so, I also hope you can get your common sense policies in place in CA, as it could become a prime example for the rest of the states in this nation.

I am a little afraid that your illegals might at first all run up here, since many Oregon politicians are liberal. However Oregon is not as profitable a place for them, and I don't think they like our rain too much....

I had a hard time reaching this candaite at first, so I just wanted to let everyone know that you can reach him really fast on facebook; heres the link.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Donnelly- ... 521?ref=mf

Typing fast, and without searching for older posts;

We should have a list of candidates that are seeking public office, and who share or belief that illegal immigration is ruining or country.
With the resources on this board, we could make a difference; (I am tierd of doing nothing).
Just Saying

Originally Posted by MW

Most of what you said sounds good, however, I can't agree with deporting "every illegal alien in our prisons who is not on death row or serving life in prison." Illegal or not, do the crime do the time. IMO, deportation is not a penalty. Now, I might possibly take your suggestion seriously if there was a guarantee that the illegals would not return, but I think we both know that no such guarantee can be given. Basically, I cannot see giving a rapist, drug pusher, or armed mugger a free pass so he can reenter the country 30 days later to resume a life of crime.

I agree with you. Let these criminal illegal aliens rot in jail.

He wrote on another blog that I follow; (paraphrasing) " all the rednecks, minutemen and unibombers are coming out of the woodwork".
I thought he was talking about me; turns out he was talking about you.

We are all being labeled because we disagree.....

I agree with you. Let these criminal illegal aliens rot in jail.

At their own expense not ours....put them to work to pay for their keep, at about half of the min. wage they enjoy getting now they should be there a long time working off their bed and board....

Kathyet