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Date Posted: 16:59:14 01/01/08 Tue
Author: rewhblcain
Subject: Re: Plan to limit "Jackpot" babies
In reply to: JMR 's message, "Plan to limit "Jackpot" babies" on 10:15:02 12/30/07 Sun

> >href="http://www.azstarne">http://www.azstarne
>t.com:80/ altsn/default/ newsletterclickt hru/218441
>
>Plan limits babies' rights to citizenship
>Birth certificates would be denied to those without a
>legal parent
>
>By Howard Fischer
>Capitol Media Services
>Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.30.2007
>advertisement
>
>PHOENIX
>The architect of Arizona's new employer sanctions law,
>which takes effect Tuesday, is crafting a series of
>new measures aimed at people who entered the U.S.
>illegally.
>Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, says he is introducing
>measures this legislative session to:
>Deny regular birth certificates to babies born in
>Arizona unless at least one parent proves citizenship.
>Expand the state crime of trespass to cover anyone in
>the U.S. without authorization.
>Require proof of legal presence in the U.S. to
>register a vehicle or get a title.
>Deny workers' compensation benefits to undocumented
>workers injured on the job.
>Bar local policies that prohibit police officers from
>checking the immigration status of those they
>encounter.
>Pearce is not taking any chances the measures will be
>rejected by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who
>previously vetoed a trespass bill and similar
>proposals. All are being drafted so if they pass the
>Republican-controll ed Legislature they go directly to
>the ballot.
>The most controversial — and legally questionable
>— part of Pearce's package is his attempt to
>withhold regular birth certificates in order to deny
>automatic citizenship to children born here to illegal
>entrants. That would also deny them public benefits
>now reserved for legal U.S. residents.
>A similar initiative drive launched last month already
>has drawn opposition from the Arizona Hospital and
>Healthcare Association amid concerns about putting
>these facilities in a law enforcement role and eroding
>trust with patients.
>Pearce acknowledged courts have ruled the 14th
>Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in the wake
>of the Civil War to provide equal protection under the
>law, guarantees citizenship to anyone born in this
>country.
>But he said extending that right to babies born of
>parents in the U.S. illegally is based on a misreading
>of the amendment.
>He notes it says citizenship requires not just birth
>in the United States but also that the person is
>"subject to the jurisdiction" of this country, which
>he said does not apply to people here illegally.
>Critics counter it is Pearce who is misreading the
>Constitution.
>Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said visitors, legal
>or otherwise, are subject to U.S. jurisdiction, just
>as a foreigner who commits a crime here can be
>prosecuted in Arizona courts.
>Rep. Tom Prezelski, D-Tucson, said the guarantee of
>citizenship to children born in the United States to
>illegal-entrant parents has been upheld by the courts
>for more than a century, including in 1898 by the U.S.
>Supreme Court.
>The court ruled that a child born in San Francisco of
>Chinese parents who were excluded from citizenship
>based on the Chinese Exclusion laws was a citizen of
>the United States by virtue of the 14th Amendment.
>Pearce's measure rings of previous punitive measures
>aimed at American Indians, slaves and Chinese in ugly
>periods of U.S. history, Prezelski said.
>"We are deciding who and who isn't American based on
>who their parents are and what their parents have
>done," he said. "That strikes me as undemocratic, and
>it really shakes the principles on which our country
>was founded."
>Pearce acknowledges there will be a lawsuit once
>Arizona denies regular birth certificates to children
>of those not here legally, but said he believes this
>time the courts will side with his view of the 14th
>Amendment.
>He said taxpayers are burdened with the cost of
>"anchor babies" born to parents in this country
>illegally.
>The Pew Center for Hispanic Studies said in 2006 that
>about one out of every seven of the more than 1
>million students in Arizona public schools were here
>because of illegal immigration. While as many as
>60,000 are themselves here illegally, another 90,000
>are children of illegal entrants who, by virtue of
>their birth in this country, are considered citizens.
>While federal law requires states to educate all
>children regardless of immigration status, most other
>programs can be reserved for legal residents, ranging
>from free health care for those who meet income
>restrictions to subsidized tuition at state
>universities.
>And Pearce said if those not here legally leave
>because of the other measures, they will take their
>children, reducing the state's nearly $5 billion
>annual cost for education.
>"A better name for these 'anchor babies' is probably
>'jackpot babies,' " Pearce said.
>Pearce's package, coupled with the sanctions bill and
>earlier voter-approved measures, is designed to make
>Arizona less hospitable to illegal entrants and
>pressure them to leave. There is at least anecdotal
>evidence the sanctions law already is doing that: Some
>Mexican nationals who normally return home to visit
>family at Christmas have indicated they may not
>return.
>"It's a matter of cutting off the free stuff, stopping
>the benefits," Pearce said.
>"I mean to make it unfriendly for those who break
>laws," he continued, comparing the measures to
>legislative efforts to stop drunken driving by
>imposing stiffer penalties. "What do you have to do to
>raise the bar so much that they stop?"
>Prezelski said punitive measures aimed at illegal
>entrants have become an annual ritual in the
>Legislature even though there's no proof they've had
>any impact.
>"It's already gone too far, and it's going to go even
>further," he said. "And, attacking this issue of
>birthright citizenship is an indication that things
>have gotten a little ridiculous."
>But Sinema conceded all Pearce's measures likely would
>gain voter approval, as did prior measures in 2004 and
>2006. She said voters are frustrated with lack of
>action by Congress to deal with the issue.
>"When they don't act, Arizonans get mad at anyone they
>can," she said. "And I can't blame them for it because
>they have a right to be frustrated."
>Read in-depth coverage of border-related issues at
>azstarnet.com/ border.
>Arizona Daily Star reporter Brady McCombs contributed
>to this article. Contact him at 573-4213 or
>bmccombs@azstarnet.com
>__________________
This would be great.

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