Posted on 12/28/2006 4:52:44 PM PST by Ooh-Ah
The immigration bill passed by the U.S. Senate in May 2006 not only would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, but it would also have required an amnesty-seeker to have a lawyer and forced taxpayers to provide one.
Although the bill did not become law, the election of Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress ensures that it will be revived in 2007, very possibly with the support of President Bush.
Tax-Funded Bonanza for LSC
Giving free legal help to illegal aliens would mean a bonanza for the taxpayer-funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC). LSC leaders in recent years have been searching desperately for a rationale for budget increases.
LSC funds a network of lawyers in hundreds of communities in the country to provide civil (not criminal) day-to-day legal help to poor people. Unfortunately, many LSC-funded lawyers spend their time on political and social causes, instead of helping the poor. This year, LSC will receive $330 million. Since it was founded in 1974, LSC has received more than $6 billion.
LSC’s one-year budget peaked in the mid-1990s at $415 million. Its supporters have been unable to restore LSC’s budget to that level because it has been constantly mired in controversy.
Last year’s immigration bill stated that recipients of “funds under the Legal Services Corporation Act” shall not be prevented “from providing legal assistance directly related to an application for adjustment of status under this section.”
Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions pointed out that the bill would have required the alien to have an attorney file the application for him. “Not only will it give amnesty to 1.5 million illegal aliens,” said Sessions, “it would have the American taxpayer pay the legal bills of those illegal aliens.”
Unlike other liberal sacred cows such as the Public Broadcasting System, the LSC budget was actually cut by the Republican Congress. In addition, several important restrictions on the money were passed in 1996. They include a ban on representing illegal aliens. That progress now threatens to be swept aside by the election results.
If Congress were to lift the ban on representing illegal aliens, government-funded lawyers could not only represent such clients in amnesty cases but could do so in any other matter, opening the floodgates for pro-immigration “impact” litigation.
Legal services lawyers have a long history of promoting illegal immigration and thwarting the enforcement of our laws in ways large and small.
In September, LSC Inspector General Kirt West issued a report detailing how California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) regularly assists illegal aliens and how its record-keeping system is designed to conceal this fact. According to one CRLA employee, “There was a clear feeling among certain CRLA staff that anyone unwilling to serve undocumented persons is a bad person.”
Last year, Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) successfully stopped plans by the Lake Worth, Fla., police department to warn contractors of possible civil and criminal penalties if they hired illegals at a day-labor site.
Several years ago, a North Carolina legal services group sent lawyers to Mexico to drum up lawsuits against American citizens. Through radio ads and public meetings, they recruited migrants who had worked in North Carolina to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits against North Carolina farmers.
In other words, American citizens were sued by Mexicans with their own tax money. Eventually, the legal services group was cut off from further LSC funding and had to pay back the cost of the trip, but the episode amply demonstrates the mindset of many legal services activists.
"Illigal ALIENS?"
I thought they were "Illigal Immigrants"....
It's just a matter of time before the Lawyers get a Class Action suit together on behalf of illegal aliens, then, and will reap BILLIONS in taxpayer or consumer-funded settlements.
Lawyers: doing the job MORAL Americans won't do.....
Every time a legal immigrant pays fees to the government, they're paying for the line cutting lawbreakers.
We've already been paying their legal fees for decades.... court appointed defense lawyers.
But I have no doubt that our idiotic government is working triple overtime looking for new ways to shaft the taxpayer and give illegals an even bigger free ride.
Never say Ken Boehm didn't warn you.
He's not a kook or an alarmist and he doesn't hear voices, strange eerie ones, in his head. He understands all too well what can happen and how if the public has been lulled into a false sense of security -- especially when the issue is illegal immigration.
As absurd as this story line surely must seem to rational people, Mr. Boehm worries that someday taxpayers actually could be forced to pay for lawyers representing illegal aliens in the U.S. who want amnesty and citizenship.
Boehm is co-founder and chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a Virginia nonpartisan foundation promoting ethics in public life. He also is not delusional.
No one need be a visionary to picture a day so surreal when taxpayers pay for legal representation for illegals. It almost happened a few months ago and it could happen before you know it if opponents of illegal immigration are not vigilant once Congress (with all those new members, mostly Democrats) convenes in January.
"Once again, the government was requiring taxpayers to pay for something not in the best interest of taxpayers," Boehm says about this year's U.S. Senate immigration bill. "In effect, it's an entitlement program for criminals."
The controversial 614-page immigration "reform" legislation passed by the Senate in May would have done so much more damage than just giving amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. In the AgJOBS amendment, illegal aliens seeking amnesty could get "free" legal counseling paid by American taxpayers. The bill also required the alien to have an attorney file the application for him.
The amendment said that recipients of funds under the Legal Services Corporation Act "shall not be prevented" from providing legal assistance directly related to an application for adjustment of status under this section -- Washington-speak for illegals wanting to be legals.
The federally funded Legal Services Corporation, which pays for 138 legal aid programs and has 700 offices nationwide -- supposedly to help poor Americans gain equal access to the judicial system -- currently is prohibited from giving legal aid to illegals. Since 1974, LSC has received about $6 billion, according to Boehm.
So, if the Senate immigration bill had become law, aliens who illegally sneaked into America would have been rewarded with free legal assistance and a path to citizenship, paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
But since the Senate and House could not reconcile their differences -- the House version actually would have protected the border with Mexico and did not offer amnesty -- why is Boehm sending newspapers commentaries and raising the issue on talk radio? After all, the good guys won the battle when the House essentially killed the Senate's illegal alien appeasement bill.
"Come January, the House, which had opposed the law, will be under new management," he says. "There's a very good chance the House will pass something similar to the Senate bill and there's a good chance that the president will sign it." Can Americans stop this looming threat?
"This is the time to let elected officials know they (Americans) are opposed to paying for free lawyers for those who are here illegally," Boehm says.
Consider yourself warned. END
Will Taxpayers Now Pay Legal Bills for Illegal Aliens?
yes
"Will Taxpayers Now Pay Legal Bills for Illegal Aliens?"
Legal bills, medical bills and educational bills.
Yet another way for the socialist society of liberal lawyers to access the public teat.
We all better get with the program and hold our politicians accountable. I can not afford to pay for illegals and take care of my family.
Emphasis mine.
Sadly, I feel that is a real possibility.
they win..........
I am selling my house....putting all proceeds in someone else's name....
taking a one way trip to mexico....
sneaking back across the border and demanding my rights....
free everything!!!!!
You're not supposed to be able to take care of your family. That's not the right attitude: It reeks of independance and responsibility. Individuals aren't supposed to do that. That's what the government's for. After all, it takes a village to raise your children, whether you want them government raised or not.
The government owns your children, so you've got plenty of money to invest in what the government deems best for you and the country.
Mark
Get ready for a HUGE jump in America's "poverty" rate when the 'RATS convert these illegal aliens into "american citizens." This country is starting to act like one of those wacky, Muzzie suicide bombers. Talk about a death wish.
What a stupid question. Of course we will, and the ACLU and all other trial lawyers and the U.S. Supremes will see to it.
Constitution be damned!
same here.
I'm sick of paying taxes and seeing my family go without while our politicians act like its a bottomless well of money.
this is why I don't feel one ounce bad for not "claiming" all income.
nice plan!:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.