Arizona Senate Panel Passes Sweeping Bills Targeting Illegals, Birthright Citizenship
Published February 23, 2011
PHOENIX -- An Arizona Senate committee late Tuesday narrowly approved a sweeping bill that would target illegal immigrants in public housing, public benefits and the workplace.
The committee earlier Tuesday also approved a bill that would deny automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants in a measure designed to set up a possible U.S. Supreme Court case on the issue.
Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, who authored Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law last year that touched off a nationwide debate on whether states can enforce federal immigration laws, sponsored Tuesday's more sweeping measure.
"If you're in the country illegally, you don't have a right to public benefits, period," he said.
The bill toughens requirements that employers check work eligibility of new hires, allowing for their business licenses to be suspended if they don't use the federal E-Verify system. Workers caught using a false identity to get a job would face mandatory six-month jail sentences.
It also requires schools to collect information on the legal status of students and report them to law enforcement if their parents don't provide the necessary documents or the documents appear false.
The bill also makes it illegal for an illegal immigrant to drive in the state, providing for a 30-day minimum jail sentence and the seizure of their vehicles if they are convicted.
In housing, it requires public agencies to verify the immigration status of renters and to evict everyone living in a unit if one was found to be an illegal immigrant. For health care, the bill changes some of the document requirements for the state's Medicaid program.
The bill turns public officials into immigration officers and "launches an unprecedented attack on minorities and people of color," said Jaime Farrant of the Border Action Network, an advocacy group.
Passing the bill would place a "dark cloud over Arizona that will make SB1070 tame in comparison," Farrant said, referring to last year's controversial law.
But the Appropriations Committee's chairman, Republican Sen. Andy Biggs, said the bill was a response "to economic and social costs that we face with the onslaught of illegal aliens in our state."
"We need to have the moral courage to deal with this issue when there is a vacuum at the federal," he said.
The bill, approved on a 7-6 vote, advances to consideration by the full Senate after a legal review and discussions by party caucuses. It drew vocal opposition from Democrats who said Pearce -- the Senate's president -- isn't focused on Republicans' stated top priority, the economy.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/22/arizona-senate-panel-passes-birthright-citizen-law/
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