Saturday, July 15, 2006
Will Amnesty Bill Trump State Immigration Laws?
By Steve Elliott, President
Grassfire.org
The real impact of illegal immigration is not felt in Washington, D.C. It is felt in the states -- the cities and towns across the nation being forced to foot the bill for the runaway costs and local impact of illegal immigration.
That’s why it should be no surprise that, with the Senate and the President pushing through an irresponsible blanket amnesty plan, our state legislatures are taking matters into their own hands. As USA Today and others are reporting, 30 states have passed legislation this year to crack down on illegal immigration to see if your state is taking action. (see USA Today link below).
State laws with teeth
These laws are wide-ranging -- from cracking down on employers hiring illegals to requiring state contractors to ensure that their employees are legal. There are laws against human trafficking, requiring citizenship or legal status to receive health benefits, making English the official language, establishing fines for counterfeiting documents, and more. One law in Texas has real economic teeth -- it prohibits businesses from deducting as a business expense wages paid to illegals.
In all, some 57 laws have been passed in these states, with more pending. I believe if left to our own devices, “we the people” would eventually solve this illegal immigration crisis. The 57 laws are evidence of that. Just one problem....
Senate Amnesty Bill Will Trump Your State
If the Senate amnesty bill passes, virtually all illegals will quickly migrate to some form of legal status, and ultimately the “path to citizenship” that the President is touting. Which brings us to one of the most damaging possible consequences of a federal amnesty bill -- what happens to the state efforts to control illegal immigration.
Once an illegal is granted legal status, how can state laws against illegals apply? It is clear that these laws will not apply to the 12-20 million who get legal status, or the tens of millions more who will be coming to our nation under the Senate amnesty plan.
Hidden danger of Senate amnesty plan
This is one of the least advertised dangers of the Senate amnesty bill. Yes, the very idea of granting amnesty to millions of illegals is repugnant. Yes, our porous borders are a national security threat. Yes, many communities are literally being torn apart by the influx of illegals. Yes, our hospitals and schools are being stretched to the breaking point.
As if these factors were not bad enough, our fearless leaders in the nation’s capital are trying to trump everything we can do at the state level and totally federalize another issue. Undoubtedly, this outrageous amnesty plan will concentrate more power at the federal level. Further emasculate our state and local governments and ultimately result in more taxes and spending at the federal level. Just to make the problem worse.
Once again, Washington, D.C., is on the wrong side of an issue, totally out of touch with what most Americans want. If the situation were reversed and 30 states had passed bills supporting amnesty, you can bet that the pressure would have already forced the House to cave in to the Senate amnesty plan. The President and some in the Senate are out of touch. But unless we stand strong, their amnesty plan will trump our state-level efforts to control this crisis.
Resources:
States target employers (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0711/p01s02-usec.html.
Summary of State laws (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-09-immigration-states_x.htm
Grassfire.org
The real impact of illegal immigration is not felt in Washington, D.C. It is felt in the states -- the cities and towns across the nation being forced to foot the bill for the runaway costs and local impact of illegal immigration.
That’s why it should be no surprise that, with the Senate and the President pushing through an irresponsible blanket amnesty plan, our state legislatures are taking matters into their own hands. As USA Today and others are reporting, 30 states have passed legislation this year to crack down on illegal immigration to see if your state is taking action. (see USA Today link below).
State laws with teeth
These laws are wide-ranging -- from cracking down on employers hiring illegals to requiring state contractors to ensure that their employees are legal. There are laws against human trafficking, requiring citizenship or legal status to receive health benefits, making English the official language, establishing fines for counterfeiting documents, and more. One law in Texas has real economic teeth -- it prohibits businesses from deducting as a business expense wages paid to illegals.In all, some 57 laws have been passed in these states, with more pending. I believe if left to our own devices, “we the people” would eventually solve this illegal immigration crisis. The 57 laws are evidence of that. Just one problem....
Senate Amnesty Bill Will Trump Your State
If the Senate amnesty bill passes, virtually all illegals will quickly migrate to some form of legal status, and ultimately the “path to citizenship” that the President is touting. Which brings us to one of the most damaging possible consequences of a federal amnesty bill -- what happens to the state efforts to control illegal immigration.Once an illegal is granted legal status, how can state laws against illegals apply? It is clear that these laws will not apply to the 12-20 million who get legal status, or the tens of millions more who will be coming to our nation under the Senate amnesty plan.
Hidden danger of Senate amnesty plan
This is one of the least advertised dangers of the Senate amnesty bill. Yes, the very idea of granting amnesty to millions of illegals is repugnant. Yes, our porous borders are a national security threat. Yes, many communities are literally being torn apart by the influx of illegals. Yes, our hospitals and schools are being stretched to the breaking point.As if these factors were not bad enough, our fearless leaders in the nation’s capital are trying to trump everything we can do at the state level and totally federalize another issue. Undoubtedly, this outrageous amnesty plan will concentrate more power at the federal level. Further emasculate our state and local governments and ultimately result in more taxes and spending at the federal level. Just to make the problem worse.
Once again, Washington, D.C., is on the wrong side of an issue, totally out of touch with what most Americans want. If the situation were reversed and 30 states had passed bills supporting amnesty, you can bet that the pressure would have already forced the House to cave in to the Senate amnesty plan. The President and some in the Senate are out of touch. But unless we stand strong, their amnesty plan will trump our state-level efforts to control this crisis.
Resources:
States target employers (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0711/p01s02-usec.html.
Summary of State laws (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-09-immigration-states_x.htm
Friday, July 14, 2006
Bogus Immigration Field Hearings?
We received this from a Grassfire team member, Dale Broze, who attended the field hearing in Laredo, Texas. We are going to press for more citizen involvement in upcoming hearings.
Steve Elliott, Grassfire
Gentlemen,
This morning, Friday, July 7, 2006, I attended the "Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Part II" Field Hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, at the La Posada Hotel, here in Laredo, Texas.
It was a real dog and pony show. Five percent of the time was allocated to illegal immigrants and ninety-five percent of the time was allocated to three different panels of people with titles. It was NOT an open meeting and the public was NOT allowed to voice any opinion.
The first panel was composed of three Border Patrol Agent Chiefs. They covered their own significant issues. The second panel was composed of the Mayor of Laredo, the Mayor-Elect, Webb County Sheriff, Zapata County Sheriff, and the Acting Port Director. Third panel was composed of an Analyst for Domestic Security at the Congressional Research Service and the Managing Director of GAO's Forensic Audits and Special Investigations Unit (FSI), security experts testifying on how they smuggled enough "dirty bomb" material across our porous borders. The civilians there could see this "dirty bomb" stuff was only political scare tactics of the current administration. All who started to make any noise got the gavel. In total, ten people got to talk to the congressmen. Subjects covered were mainly in the realm of border security.
This committee literally dodged the illegal worker problem and will go back to Washington with all the data they have accumulated about border security from these Field Hearings and nothing about illegal workers will be brought forward. I believe that the illegal workers issue has already been decided. These Field Hearings are just a facade, because most of what was brought forward is available in government reports.
The issue of illegal aliens running our southern border was hardly touched by those with titles, even though people were chanting in the street outside about illegals. Even an illegal alien was protesting for rights with a megaphone and a truckload of day-workers was spotted by cameras. They did make our 6pm evening KGNS Pro8 News.
These Border Security Field Meetings were thought to be addressing the illegal workers problem are a sham and a total disrespect for the voters. This must be made more public and these public officials must be made to listen.
Years ago, the fine to businesses for hiring illegal workers was a mere 300 dollars and was scoffed at by business. Then it was raised to 3,000 dollars? What we should do is the same thing again! Add a zero to the fines, 30,000 dollars per would get their attention. Imagine how the whole issue would for the most part disappear!
Dale A. Broze
Laredo, TX
Steve Elliott, Grassfire
Gentlemen,
This morning, Friday, July 7, 2006, I attended the "Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Part II" Field Hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, at the La Posada Hotel, here in Laredo, Texas.
It was a real dog and pony show. Five percent of the time was allocated to illegal immigrants and ninety-five percent of the time was allocated to three different panels of people with titles. It was NOT an open meeting and the public was NOT allowed to voice any opinion.
The first panel was composed of three Border Patrol Agent Chiefs. They covered their own significant issues. The second panel was composed of the Mayor of Laredo, the Mayor-Elect, Webb County Sheriff, Zapata County Sheriff, and the Acting Port Director. Third panel was composed of an Analyst for Domestic Security at the Congressional Research Service and the Managing Director of GAO's Forensic Audits and Special Investigations Unit (FSI), security experts testifying on how they smuggled enough "dirty bomb" material across our porous borders. The civilians there could see this "dirty bomb" stuff was only political scare tactics of the current administration. All who started to make any noise got the gavel. In total, ten people got to talk to the congressmen. Subjects covered were mainly in the realm of border security.
This committee literally dodged the illegal worker problem and will go back to Washington with all the data they have accumulated about border security from these Field Hearings and nothing about illegal workers will be brought forward. I believe that the illegal workers issue has already been decided. These Field Hearings are just a facade, because most of what was brought forward is available in government reports.
The issue of illegal aliens running our southern border was hardly touched by those with titles, even though people were chanting in the street outside about illegals. Even an illegal alien was protesting for rights with a megaphone and a truckload of day-workers was spotted by cameras. They did make our 6pm evening KGNS Pro8 News.
These Border Security Field Meetings were thought to be addressing the illegal workers problem are a sham and a total disrespect for the voters. This must be made more public and these public officials must be made to listen.
Years ago, the fine to businesses for hiring illegal workers was a mere 300 dollars and was scoffed at by business. Then it was raised to 3,000 dollars? What we should do is the same thing again! Add a zero to the fines, 30,000 dollars per would get their attention. Imagine how the whole issue would for the most part disappear!
Dale A. Broze
Laredo, TX
