Many laws have been proposed in Texas to tackle illegal immigration. But the fever to adopt legislation against undocumented workers on the same lines of Arizona is rising high. The lawmakers of Texas are planning to propose approx 30 bills in this regard in the 2011 January session.
This wave of bills has alarmed Democrats as well as the Civil-rights groups. They are aware of the new 99-51 Republican majority of the Texas House compared to the earlier Republican four vote majority in the House. They assert that with such a majority in the house much legislation could be passed.
The Republicans have backed bills which necessitate the voters to produce their photo identity before casting their votes. However, the fear is that many controversial bills targeting the undocumented immigrants may gain approval.
Sherri Greenberg, the political science professor at the University of Texas and a former Democratic lawmaker opined that the House is currently in the conservative mode. The chances of passing the voters identity bill soon after the 2011 session is high. The passing of other bills, on the other hand cannot be commented upon at this early stage.
There has been a growing emphasis to adopt Arizona style legislation. This legislation is currently challenged by Obama and many others in the court.
Reps. Debbie Riddle and Leo Berman have filed bills similar to that of Arizona for Texas. Barman in fact has come up with the proposal necessitating presidential/vice-presidential candidate to produce a birth certificate to the Texas Secretary of the State for securing a place in the ballot. He also says that illegal immigrants are not subject to any jurisdiction, hence they cannot vote. He also hints taking up the matter to the US Supreme Court. He also believes that it is totally ridiculous to offer citizenship to the children of the people who commit a crime against the nation by violating its borders.
Some bills concentrate on making English the official language of the state and also limit the state from spending money on any material that is not in English. The money sent to countries like Mexico, South America and Central America will be pressed with a fee of 8%. Other bills would prohibit an undocumented immigrant to address any problem to the state court.
The cities and counties failing to enforce such bills would be denied any funding from the state. Another bill refused to provide any sort of services to the children of the illegal immigrants.
Luis Figueroa, a legislative attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said that these bills were totally unconstitutional, impractical and anti business.
Berman said that illegal immigrants are using up the state’s money. The illegal immigrants generated an income of $425 million. But the local governments and hospitals suffered a loss of $929 million in 2005.
