Even Tx Has Had Enough (illegals)

[FC]

Investors Business Daily

Illegal Immigration: The home state of the president

who said compassion does not stop at the

border now says that allowing those seeking a

better life to come does not mean denying it to

those already here.

Not long ago, George W. Bush was governor of

Texas,praising the benefits to his stateandthis nation

of immigrants, legal and illegal. He still does,

but his political heirs in a state that has a 1,200-mile border

withMexicohave embraced a slightly different view.

Arecent report from the Pew Hispanic Center estimates

that 1.4 million to 1.6 million illegal aliens reside in Texas,

about 14% of the U.S. total. Another study, this one from

the Lone Star Foundation in Austin, said illegal aliens

drain $4.5 billion from the Texas economy, mostly in

health care costs.

As a result, a growing number of Texas politicians on

both sides of the aisle are seeking, in the absence of what

they perceive to be meaningful action from Washington,

to put the brakes on what was once a relative trickle and is

nowa flood.

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, is the author of one of

morethantwodozenproposals that target illegalimmigration

in Texas, proposals that amounttomorestickand less

carrot. His bill would deny benefits to the children of illegal

alienswhounder the current interpretation of the 14th

Amendment automatically become U.S. citizens. Berman

admitsheseeks a court fightonthe issue.

The14thAmendmentreads: “Allpersonsbornor naturalized

in the United States, and (italics added) subject to the

jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and

of the state wherein they reside.”Theoperativewordhere

is “jurisdiction.”

John Eastman, a law professor at Chapman University

anda fellow at theClaremontInstitute, arguedbeforeCongress

not long ago that illegal aliens from Mexico are still

foreign nationals and are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction,

except for purposes of deportation, and therefore their

children born on American soil should not automatically

be U.S. citizens.

More than a few legal scholars argue that the 14th

Amendment, enacted in 1868 to ensure citizenship rights

for thenewlyfreed slaves after the CivilWar,wasneverintended

to cover babies bornto foreign parents.

“Apregnant aliencanwait at the border,checkinto a hospital

in Texas, give birthwithout payinga penny,andberewarded

for her illegal behavior,” Berman said. He noted

that at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and the public hospital

in Houston,70%of babies are born to illegal aliens.

In addition to health care costs, Texas schools paid more

than $1.7 billion to educate illegal immigrantsandthe legal

children of illegal immigrants in 2003-04, said the Federation

for American Immigration Reform.

Bermanisnot alone.Otherbillswouldtaxmoneythat illegal

immigrants wire abroad, require parents to verify legal

residency before receiving state medicalservicesandeliminate

in-state tuition breaks for illegal immigrants.

Why,it is argued, should illegal immigrantsfroma neighboring

country get a break whenAmerican citizens from a

neighboring state donot?

State Sen. Royce West, a Democrat from Dallas, wants to

tax remittances sent to Mexico as a way of defraying

health care costs.Hewondered:“Whyshouldillegalimmigrants,

who by virtue of being in the country have broken

the law, be able to get thesamestate services as a citizen?”

Some might argue that this is xenophobia run amok. We

think it’s simply a recognition thatourresources are not infinite,

and that one way to control illegal immigration is to

reduce the incentives to income. If this country requires

[fritz]

"As a result, a growing number of Texas politicians on

both sides of the aisle are seeking, in the absence of what

they perceive to be meaningful action from Washington,

to put the brakes on what was once a relative trickle and is

nowa flood."

 

 

Yes, and that is something that Bush should have spent more time on, instead of passing it off to his "heirs". Every state in this country can pass legislation to control our borders, but until our President goes along with them, nothing will happen.

 

And that is just what is happening now. Why am I not surprised?

 

fritz