But that coverage has mostly been on human interest angles relating to the kids coming from Central America and on the protests in Murrieta. I don’t think the mainstream media have done a good job of covering the political upshot of this mess. That upshot: The border debacle is sabotaging any chance for a bipartisan agreement on immigration reform — the sort of deal that many people in the GOP say is key to the party ever broadening its narrow base of voters.

Tom McClintock, the Northern California Republican congressman, has long been a foe of illegal immigration. His arguments are a preview of the powerful fire that is going to be used from here on out — not the usual stuff about how illegal immigrants are bad for the country but about how the federal government simply can’t be trusted on any immigration issue at all. This is from a speech he gave on the House floor:

The fact is, our southern border IS wide open; it is practically undefended and everybody knows it.  The many thousands streaming across it know that if they break our laws and enter the country illegally, they will be rewarded with free food, clothing, housing, medical care, transportation, legal representation and relocation, all at the expense of struggling American families.  Ninety five percent of them believe they’ll get “permisso” to stay –- and at the moment, they’re right.

Until we fundamentally change that reality, the mass incursion of our borders will continue and our nation’s sovereignty will slowly fade away. …

‘There is no reason to believe future laws will be enforced’

More from Tom:

This administration has actively encouraged this crisis with its promises of amnesty, and it now needs another $4 billion to feed, clothe and house this new surge.  Conspicuously lacking from the President’s proposal is any serious effort at enforcement or deportation.

The advocates of illegal immigration tell us we need comprehensive immigration reform, but what they really mean is extending some form of amnesty to those now illegally in our country.  Yet it is precisely these promises of amnesty that are causing and encouraging the mass migration we now are seeing. …

If we are not willing to enforce our current laws, there is no reason to believe that any future laws will be enforced.

This is a strong argument to make not to anti-immigration true believers but to those who are wavering on the issue — especially GOP moderates and Democrats in some border states.

Whether you believe, as McClintock does, that this surge was intentionally encouraged by the Obama administration, or is just more Obama incompetence, the end result isn’t good for anyone who hopes for a cease-fire in the immigration wars. I don’t think there’s a chance Congress enacts comprehensive immigration reform in the foreseeable future — and by that I mean at least five years.

By Katy Grimes

The dead Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have been eligible to serve on a jury in California, if state legislators have their way.

The Assembly passed a bill Thursday that would  allow non-citizens who are in the U.S.  legally to serve on jury duty.

Just when you thought the state couldn’t favor non-citizens any more, once again California is racing to be the first state in the country to pass a ridiculous law affording non-citizens rights previously reserved only for American citizens.

But that’s not all.

Democratic lawmakers at the state Capitol are currently trying to pass a law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a California driver’s license. Last year they passed a law allowing illegal immigrants to apply for and receive student financial aid benefits and state-funded grants for college.

But here is an interesting thought: The dead Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have been eligible to serve on a jury since he was a “legal immigrant” but not yet a citizen.

This is what life in California has become under a Democratic supermajority.

“Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community. It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, live in the county that is making the summons and being proficient in English,” the AP reported.

The bill passed 45-25 on a mostly party line vote. Only one Democrat voted no, while many other Democrats chose not to vote on the bill. Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, cast the only ‘no’ vote for the Democrats.

I had no idea there was a shortage of jurors in California. My husband was recently let out of jury duty since there were so many jurors to choose from in Sacramento County.

Democrats argued there is no correlation between being a citizen and a juror. And somehow because there is no citizenship requirement to be an attorney or a judge, Democrats claimed the bill was justified.

Republican’s however, called AB 1401 “misguided and premature.”

“Jury selection is not the problem,” said Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point. “The problem is trial court funding. I hope we can focus on that. Let’s not break something that’s not broken now. Let’s not whittle away at what is reserved for U.S. citizens. There’s a reason for it.”

If you weren’t outraged over the previous bills affording illegal immigrants rights and liberties previously reserved for American citizens, AB 1401 should convince you that this Legislature is hell-bent on eroding what’s left of California.

By Katy Grimes

SACRAMENTO — Driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants is back on the table and making its way through the Capitol once again. But this latest bill asserts a licensed driver is a safer driver, based on a new California Department of Motor Vehicles study.

The study, “Fatal Crash Rates for Suspended/Revoked and Unlicensed Drivers,” found that, compared to licensed drivers, suspended or revoked and unlicensed drivers are nearly three times more likely to cause a fatal crash.

Supporters of issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants have jumped on this report as evidence of the need.

The California Safe and Responsible Driver Act, Assembly Bill 60, would authorize issuance of a California driver’s license to all illegal immigrants residing in the state, as long as they can show proof identification.

AB 60, in the Assembly Transportation Committee Monday, by Salinas Democrat Luis Alejo, is one of the many attempts over the past decade to authorize illegal immigrants with driver’s licenses. AB 60 follows a newly passed law from 2012, AB 2189, which granted California driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants who came to California as children.

But not just anyone can walk into the DMV and obtain a California driver’s license. AB 60 would only authorize DMV-issued driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants as long as applicants provide several forms of documentation to establish proof of identity, including:

* A valid consular identification

* Original birth certificate

* A residential utility bill or lease agreement, OR

* Other proof of Califiornia residence; AND

* Marriage certificate

* Foreign ID card

* Official school or college transcript

* Property deed or title document

* Property tax bill

* Income tax return, OR

* “Other proof of California residence as designated by the DMV.”

A licensed driver is a safer driver

Alejo said AB 60 would reduce fatal crashes and improve public safety. “Drivers able to get licenses and eventually insurance lead to safer roads,” Alejo said. “We’re the state with the largest immigrant population. Many of those are undocumented in critical industries that couldn’t go without the work they do. Whether it be the agricultural industry, the restaurants, the hotels, they are already here. They are already working. It would allow them to learn the laws, traffic laws, allow them to get insurance while driving on the road, and it would make our roads much safer.”

But opponents say handing out driver’s licenses opens a can of worms in state and national security, and should be left to the federal government.

Dan Rosenberg, a citizen and the only opponent to speak at the hearing Monday, said AB 60 may have lots of support, but no one has provided evidence whatsoever to support the safer roads claim.

Rosenberg told the story of his son being killed by an unlicensed, illegal immigrant in San Francisco. “The District Attorney screwed up every aspect of the case,” Rosenberg said.  His son’s death led him to research the statistics on unlicensed drivers and immigrants, and road safety. “This is not a debate about immigration, but about public safety. Licensing them would not make crashes fewer, or hit and runs less. There are bad drivers with licenses and bad without.”

Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, interrupted Rosenberg several times, admonishing him to address the merits of the bill.

“It sounds like you don’t want to hear the evidence,” Rosenberg replied.

Rosenberg offered research from New Mexico, which found traffic fatalities rose after passing legislation to authorize illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

 Licensing history

All immigrants, legal or not, could get driver’s licenses in California until 1993, when legislation required all applicants to present a valid Social Security number to obtain one.

AB 60 is similar to bills authored by former Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, to give illegal immigrants the legal right to drive in California. Cedillo tried unsuccessfully seven or eight times to get his bill passed, but not without a fight. Cedillo’s bill was passed by the Legislature three times, but vetoed twice by then-Gov. Gray Davis.

Davis finally signed one of Cedillo’s bills in 2003, and it became an issue during his historic recall election. Davis was hammered on the issue by candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was elected to replace Davis. The Legislature then signed a repeal of the bill, and Schwarzenegger signed it into law.

Emotional or practical issue?

The hearing for AB 60 was long and full of emotion as many Latinos showed up from all over the state to testify in support of AB 60.

Lowenthal, the committee chairwoman, asked supporters to only provide their names, affiliations, and state if they support the bill. But there were many stories and short speeches given, some of which included an interpreter.

Supportive of a pathway to citizenship, PICO California, the largest community-organizing network in the state, had a large presence at the hearing, clearly having organized many of the supporters present.

But several legislators say this is an issue for the federal government, and not individual states.

In a statement, Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, opposed the bill. “The Democrats can pass AB 60 on their own because they have overwhelming control of both houses of the state Legislature,” she said, according to a KGET report. “But, I don’t think the 50 individual states should be writing piecemeal immigration laws — this is something Congress needs to handle at the federal level. And, while there are some practical reasons that it makes sense to test and license any driver on our roads, how does a state government provide a document to drive legally, if the person came here illegally?”

Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, has been critical of piecemeal legislation, including AB 60, the Sacramento Bee reported. “The unintended consequences of these bills is to separate my constituents into categories and classes, promote cultural divide, and create legal tension between state and federal laws.”

The bill easily passed the Transportation Committee, 12-1.

By Katy Grimes

California Democrats worked overtime last week to set up a separate set of new rules and laws for illegal immigrants. While most agree that the federal government is not properly addressing illegal immigration, California is going in the opposite direction, and providing drivers licenses, education, health care, welfare and now a “safe harbor” for people in the state illegally.

The Legislature even is saying that if illegal aliens in California pay income taxes, they can enjoy amnesty for five years.

‘California Prosperity and Opportunity Act’

Call it “Pay to Stay.”

A failed ballot initiative also called the “California Prosperity and Opportunity Act” estimated that as many as a million new taxpayers would contribute $325 million annually in general revenue to California, likely a high number. It was sold as a way to fund “desperately needed police and fire services.”

But the ballot initiative failed to get the necessary signatures to put it on the ballot. Instead, Steinberg and Fuentes gutted another bill, and placed the amnesty language into it, avoiding the standard public bill process entirely.

“You still are trying to buy votes,” Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, told Democratic colleagues in the Assembly on Friday, the last day of the two-year session. “This is yet another example of us veering off course. We are setting up a brand new society, with a separate set of rules for those who break the law.”

“This bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier. Calderon said that illegal immigrants will end up paying more than anyone else because they won’t be able to take any deductions.

Republican Assemblywoman Diane Harkey said that Democrats were using the issue to make points in the press during an election year. “The president had an opportunity to correct this and did not,” Harkey said. “This is window dressing at best.”

Steinberg appeared in the Assembly during floor debate and lobbied hard for votes for SB 901. The first Assembly vote failed to get the 41 “yes” votes needed, and stalled at 38-27. But later in the day, after more lobbying, the bill passed 43-32, entirely along party lines.

Take the bus, train or drive a car?

While legal California drivers are practically being forced out of cars and onto public transportation, the Legislature passed a bill last week which will allow illegal immigrants to obtain a legal California Driver’s License.

California already provides illegal immigrants a public education through college,  public health care and, in many cases, welfare and food stamps.

However, there is nothing in AB 2189, by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, requiring the drivers to purchase auto insurance. And many are concerned that a driver’s license provides the identification needed to illegally cast a vote in the upcoming November election.

Cedillo has tried nine times since 1998 to get bills passed that would allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses. All those previous efforts failed. Cedillo is also the author of the California Dream Act, passed in 2011, which allows illegal aliens to obtain financial aid for college.

Pay-to-stay taxes

Then there is the bill establishing “a voluntary program to encourage certain immigrants to pay state income taxes, and requests the federal government not to expend resources on enforcement of immigration laws against program participants.”

“The California Opportunity and Prosperity Act,” by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-San Fernando, would create a five-year pilot program for illegal aliens living in California since 2008; whose who cannot get Social Security numbers would be exempt from “apprehension, detention or removal” by the federal government.

The Los Angeles Times stated that “it only makes sense.”

SB 901 was an 11th-hour gut-and-amend bill, and was not vetted publicly. (Proposition 31, on the November ballot, would seek to end the gut-and-amend practice.) SB 901 is “intended to encourage certain immigrants in California to file state income tax returns and potentially generate a substantial amount of new tax revenue for the state.”

SB 901 would direct Gov. Jerry Brown to ask President Barack Obama to suspend programs of the federal immigration and security agencies for the duration of California’s five-year program. It’s a five-year amnesty program for illegal immigrants who pay state income tax. It could be billed as a pay-to-stay tax.

This bill is another example of California overreaching its authority. There is nothing in federal law allowing the government to abdicate its authority over illegal aliens and shift that authority to a state.

The absurdity of the bill is the notion that, if illegal aliens pay state income taxes, they will not be subject to deportation. There are no such protections. Even the bill analysis recognizes this:  “Federal preemption carries particular force in the context of immigration because the federal government has broad, undoubted power over immigration and the status of aliens. (See, e.g., Toll v. Moreno, 458 U. S. 1, 10 (1982).

“Because this bill delves so closely into the subject of immigration, it is important to consider whether this bill may be preempted by federal law should it ultimately become law in California.”

Deferred action program

Most people agree that the lack of enforcement of U.S. immigration laws is a big problem, especially for border states. President Barack Obama made the problem worse earlier this year when he announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would no longer deport illegal aliens who were in the U.S. prior to their 16th birthday. The law also states that illegal aliens 30 years old or younger are also eligible.

In addition to allowing millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the country, California will be providing them driver’s licenses and financial aid for college. Fuentes and Steinberg should have called the bill “the California Amnesty, Education and Identification Voter Act.”

By Katy Grimes

SACRAMENTO — Immigration issues within states are becoming more prevalent. The usual complaints are that the federal government isn’t doing enough to enforce U.S. policy.

California is different. Earlier this year, it already embarked into uncharted territories, with the state Legislature voting to allow the children of undocumented aliens to attend the state’s public universities and colleges, at estimated costs of $65 million a year in financial aid and scholarships.

California: Sanctuary State

There have been many failed attempts to pass state laws allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work in California without the constant threat of deportation. Many say that this should have sent a clear message to lawmakers. Even a ballot initiative, the California Opportunity and Prosperity Act, failed to get enough signatures to quality for the November ballot.

“But noooooo,” as John Belushi used to say on “Saturday Night Live.”

Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Sylmar, together with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, revived the attempt. In one of the most repugnant moves legislators can make, they gutted and amended SB 901, breathing new life into creating a “safe harbor” for illegal immigrants in California.

The sanctuary discussions began with allowing counties to opt in or out of becoming sanctuary counties. But when SB 901 was gutted and amended to include the new language, Steinberg used language that would make the entire state a sanctuary state.

But that’s not all, folks.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, led a contentious conversation in the Assembly Friday surrounding illegal immigrants over his bill, AB 1081, which seeks to remove the teeth of the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Secure Communities program.

Current law requires local law enforcement agencies to submit arrestees’ fingerprints to ICE, as well as several other Federal Bureau of Investigation databases, then have these federal agencies access the arrestee’s documented criminal and immigration history.

But according to Ammiano, this federal program is problematic because it allows local police agencies to investigate and enforce immigration laws on anyone in the U.S. illegally, instead of just pursuing and arresting the most dangerous illegal immigrants.

Picking and choosing which lawbreakers get deported is apparently what Ammiano wants California law enforcement to be able to do.

 California reality

California has more than a $16 billion deficit, but spends $21 billion annually on illegal, undocumented aliens. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, “Illegal immigrants make up about 28 percent of all foreign-born U.S. residents and slightly less than 4 percent of the  nation’s total population.” And according to the PPIC, “California has a higher share than the rest of the nation of illegal immigrants from Mexico. It has more illegal immigrants overall than any other state—an estimated 2.6 million.”

Apparently not content with spending money the state doesn’t have, lawmakers want to turn California into a sanctuary state.

Sanctuary cities

California is already home to more than 30 Sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities offer  protection to illegal aliens and assistance through welfare benefits, along with refusing enforce the federal immigration laws, thereby offering sanctuary to those in the country illegally, and using taxpayer funds to support them.

In 2010, Los Angeles County spent  $52 million in welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. By the beginning of 2011, that figure jumped to nearly $600 million.

In 2008, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, at the time the mayor of San Francisco, publicized the city’s sanctuary status in a  press release for San Francisco’s Sanctuary City Outreach Program.  Newsome tried to backtrack after it was discovered that the city’s sanctuary policy had protected illegal alien gang members accused of committing serious crimes, including murder.  “In 2009, Newsom attempted to veto an ordinance passed by San Francisco’s even more radical Board of Supervisors which prohibited illegal aliens charged with crimes from being detained by the Department of Homeland Security,” Ohio Jobs and Justice Pac reported.

Hardship stories

Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, argued in favor of making California a sanctuary state, On Friday, he told the story of how a Sacramento woman who is in the state illegally was recently arrested “for selling tamales and trying to feed her family.”

Perez didn’t tell the entire story, but Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, did. Jones reminded lawmakers that the woman had been in the United States for 16 years and had been arrested several times for trespassing on private property.

For every story about personal hardship the media portrays, there are even more about illegal criminal aliens arrested for felony drunk driving, drug crimes, gang violence, vehicular manslaughter, murder, robberies, identity theft, and myriad other dangerous crimes.

“Illegal aliens are involved in criminal activities at a rate that is 2-5 times their representative proportion of the population,” according to P.F. Wagner, the author of “The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration.”

Impacts of legislation

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, strongly opposed AB 1081, and said that  issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants rewards law breakers. “Not only is this wildly unpopular among the citizens, but it creates a national security risk,” said Donnelly in an interview.

“It is baffling that, every time our laws become inconvenient for people who are here illegally, we create a new exemption,” he said. “This pattern of pandering is a slap in the face to the law-abiding citizens and to the dedicated families and individuals who have waited for the opportunity to become Americans. We are going to give them California drivers licenses, allow them to vote, pay their college tuition and allow them to become lawyers.”

Donnelly challenged Ammiano Friday on the name of the bill, the “Trust Act,” and said it was “an insult to everyone in this country legally. It should be called the ‘Anti-Trust Act.'”

“We can’t debate the facts anymore,” Donnelly said. “The liberals claim that we don’t want diversity. But it’s liberals who don’t want legal immigrants. Because the immigrants who came here legally, they wave the flag, build businesses, and are fiscal conservatives. They understand what freedom means.”

Both bills have been passed by the Legislature, along party lines, and are headed to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature or veto.

If the governor signs these bills and California becomes a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, many are saying that Brown could be a one-term governor, or even face a recall. The bills have been whisked through without public input, and were drastically amended, demonstrating that California’s Democrat-controlled Legislature favors its own process over the people of the state.

California’s Supreme Court yesterday ruled that illegal immigrants can get in-state tuition at state universities and colleges. But your legal relative who’s a citizen and lives in Parker, Ariz., just across the border, doesn’t get that goodie.

It’s latest absurd decision in a long string of them. And the court is supposed to be packed with conservative Republicans!

The L.A. Times reports:

The ruling is the first of its kind in the nation. California is one of 10 states that permit undocumented immigrants to receive in-state tuition, which can save them $23,000 a year at theUniversity of California.

Hey, $23,000.00, or $23,000,000,000.000.00. It’s all free  money, isn’t it?

Let’s just hand a bag with $10,000 in it to every illegal who sneaks across the border.

As Bluto says, “Grab a brew. Don’t cost nothin’.”

Nov. 16, 2010

Illegal aliens, once again, are doing Jobs Americans Won’t Do:

SEATTLE When Maria Gianni is knocking on voters’ doors, she’s not bashful about telling people she is in the country illegally. She knows it’s a risk to advertise to strangers that she’s here illegally – but one worth taking in what she sees as a crucial election.

The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers – many of them illegal immigrants – canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi….

In Bellevue, a city of nearly 123,000 east of Seattle, Gianni knocked on 25 doors and spoke to 15 people, she said.

Oct. 22, 2010