Posted on 08/04/2004 9:15:47 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – Moving to capitalize on lingering resentment over legislative efforts to grant driver licenses to undocumented aliens, some Republicans plan to launch a broad initiative campaign aimed at barring those in California illegally from collecting welfare, college scholarships or food stamps.
The measure, targeted for the March 2006 ballot, also would pre-empt any legislation to allow illegal immigrants to gain driver licenses.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who persuaded the Legislature to repeal such a law, is negotiating a compromise measure with Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, but no deal has been struck.
"We have to stop the incentives for coming here illegally. This is the only way to do it. The Legislature cannot be trusted," said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a conservative grass-roots faction of the GOP.
The initiative is a narrowed version of the polarizing Proposition 187 approved by voters in 1994.
The courts and mediation later invalidated much of Proposition 187, allowing children of illegal immigrants to attend school and receive medical care.
Spence said the new initiative would exempt those services required by the courts.
Moderate Republicans have worked to mend seriously damaged relations with Latino voters, many of whom viewed Proposition 187 as a direct attack. A "son of 187" could attract conservatives, but erase GOP gains among Latinos as early as this November's election.
If approved by voters, the initiative would bar undocumented immigrants from collecting retirement, welfare, unemployment or disability checks. They would not qualify for housing subsidies or food stamps. And they would no longer be eligible for cheaper in-state college tuition or receive loans and scholarships.
"This is a time for us to bring our country together and look for ways to build unity, not division," Cedillo said when asked about the initiative.
"Immigrants are not here for services. They're here to work," he said.
Spence said that the state is broke and cannot afford to provide services to those who crossed the border illegally.
"It's more than the driver's license," he said. "We're running deficits."
Spence is expected to be joined by Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-Del Mar, in unveiling the initiative today in Sacramento. They need about 600,000 signatures of registered voters to put the measure on the ballot.
Spence's group has proven it has the capability to follow through. It collected more than enough signatures on a referendum to overturn a driver-license bill signed by then-Gov. Gray Davis. The referendum was dropped after Davis' recall and Schwarzenegger's historic election. Schwarzenegger repealed the law soon after his election.
Cedillo is an American-In-Name-Only. At heart, he's a passionate racist who always places race before nationality. The only thing that Cedillo cares about is helping his fellow Latinos, and that includes Latino illegal aliens.
Maybe they had a self-imposed deadline to try to get it on this fall's ballot. I can't remember.
Is there a constitutional right for illegal aliens to receive benefits and services NOT required by federal law? I haven't seen one.
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It's protected under the "rights" given them by the oligarchy.
IIRC, the federal judge ruled the original 187 unconstitutional by saying that the State of CA was usurping (with 187) the rights of the federal government which has sole authority for determining immigration policy and enforcement.
IMO, logically it would be the other way around. That is, states that knowingly give benefits (not required or specifically allowed by federal law) to illegal immigrants are usurping the immigration regulatory power of the federal government because by giving those benefits the state is determining that it is okay to be here to get the benefit -- but lawfully only the federal government can say it's okay to be here.
I may be mistaken, but I think the Kansas Kobach lawsuit which deals with giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens is based on that line of thinking. Also, why would Hatch need the Dream Act to give states the right to give in-state tuition, if they already have that right?
Thanks for the info.
The fact that they are eligible for these things now shows how F'd up this state really is.
Retirement? From whom?
Stop handouts to ILLEGALS ping!
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