California voters, including Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, passed Prop. 187, which would have denied benefits to undocumented immigrants. But the law was overturned by a court, and Governor Gray Davis did not defend it. Now we can see what Prop. 187 might have looked like, in Arizona, where Republicans are having a field day as laws like 187 are passing in abundance – and immigrants are fleeing in droves.
“In recent years it has barred illegal immigrants from receiving government services, from winning punitive damages in lawsuits and from posting bail for serious crimes. A new state law shuts down businesses that hire illegal workers. And the sheriff of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and three-fifths of the state’s population, dispatches his deputies and volunteer “posses” to search for illegal street vendors or immigrants being smuggled through the county,” according to the L.A. Times.
The new laws in Arizona have hurt U.S. citizens in the process – but the Republicans passing the laws could care less. Here are just a few examples of how the laws in Arizona are hurting those who are here legally, as cited by the L.A. Times:
- Juan Carlos Ochoa, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in an upper-middle-class subdivision near Phoenix named Laguna Hills, can’t find a job because a government database classifies him as a possible illegal immigrant.
- Pauline Mu
right on arizona . if only california would do the same . and by the way art its not immagrants that are leaving arizona . ITS ILLEGALS .
art. the minute that amnesty is given to all those here illegally, they will all become unemployed and wards of the state, collecting wefare and other benefits due to their lack of education and job skills. you act as if they will all become doctors and lawyers and teachers the minute they get amnesty.
anonymous, maybe you don’t remember that Bill Clinton did away with welfare ten years ago. We no longer have AFDC. However, we will be facing a labor shortage as the baby boomer enter retirement. Eventually, we will have to invest in some of these immigrants. We already do it to a certain extent with student visas.
Art is on to something here. We will have to train these immigrants. We already have shortages of health care and home care workers. I certainly think that we can train immigrants to fill many of those jobs, and yes, at some point, some of these people become doctors and lawyers. I went to college with many children of immigrants who had high hopes, goals and achievements.
Adriana-
The problem is that there are born-Americans who want to have opportunities for better employment, too. I agree with you about investing in immigrants with the caveat that we need to invest in continuing education for all.
Yes, There’s now a 5-year limit on cash aid (welfare), but what will immigrants do after that runs out? Stay here and be poor or go home and be poor? They’ll choose America every time. If they can’t contribute to our society, they should be sent home. We are the ‘Land of Opportunity,’ not the ‘Land of Free Money.’
Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. Appease his demand for your fish, and you have a problem for one.
SMS
Sarah,
The devil is in the details. Many of these immigrants have American children. Deporting them will ruin young lives. Ergo the need for another amnesty…
Sarah, I agree that we should invest in American workers first and foremost. However, we are still going to be facing a shortage of hospital and home care workers to take care of the boomer generation. We can use immigrant labor to fill the void, as well as US born workers.
Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for state sponsored assistance because they don’t have social security numbers and they often don’t have addresses.
Art-
I’m sorry, but ‘anchor babies’ should not be an excuse. I admit however, that I’m at a loss as to how to solve this issue in another way. I’ll give it some thought and if I can’t come up with anything I guess I’ll have to agree with you.
Adriana
Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for state sponsored assistance because they don’t have social security numbers and they often don’t have addresses.
Who says? All you’d need to do is get what’s called a ‘script.’ It’s a collection of fake identity papers. You get a street-address PO Box, a bank account, and direct deposit, and that’s it. Sure, it’s expensive to get started, but that’s a lot of free money. You really don’t think there are undocumenteds who have found ways onto the welfare roles?
SMS
Sarah, I understand that there are some undocumented immigrants who buy fake papers, but I doubt that undocumented immigrants are receiving the majority of public assistance. The stakes are high if they get caught in such a scam (instant deportation). Undocumented immigrants tend to live in the shadows.
To qualify for welfare in CA, you need to be in a program like Cal Works or in some job training program. Do you really think that you are going to see many undocumented people comply with all of these requirements, even if they can con authorities with fake papers?
http://www.ladpss.org/dpss/calworks/eligibility.cfm
I’m sorry Adriana, but I’ve seen it first hand. Not only so I know someone who defrauded the system for years, never paid taxes, and took plenty of welfare, but she was an American citizen with a long criminal record in her own name. It’s a lot harder to get caught than you think.
So of course they’ll fulfill the requirements. All they have to do is go to job interviews and they get paid.
SMS
Sarah, have you ever stopped to think why it might be hard for some of these undocumented people to get caught?
It is funny how anti-immigration folks will always point the finger at the little guy without looking towards the employers that hire these people in the first place.
If you have ever had your nails done, had a full service car wash, or have eaten in a restaurant in Southern California, odds are you have contributed to this illegal problem indirectly with your own $$$. Most people don’t look at illegal immigration from this perspective.
I don’t like illegal immigration, but I don’t think that only cracking down on folks who might be “suspect” (people with brown faces) is the answer. Why aren’t we outraged that business owners hire these people?
As Art wrote in his original post, Americans who are here legally are paying the price for these witch hunts in Arizona. Where is the justice in that?
Adriana –
I made a point about employers using undocumented in my post about Lou Dobbs. Please read it; I think we’re a lot more in agreement than you think we are.
SMS
FYI Sarah & Adriana:
You cannot collect Welfare/AFDC without being fingerprinted. Fake documents don’t work.
Parents of anchor babies cannot receive any kind of monetary assistance for themselves, however, they can receive benefits for their children. I personally know of one woman who is illegally in this country and receives two SSI payments for her two U.S. born children with disabilities.