Calif. group wants Arizona-type illegal-immigrants law

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Calif. group wants Arizona-type illegal-immigrants law
A California initiative proposing an anti-illegal immigration law similar to Arizona's SB1070 is gaining momentum.
The Support Federal Immigration Law Committee, an anti-illegal immigration group in Belmont, is recruiting volunteers, especially Tea Party members across the state, to help pass the initiative into law.
The proposal would require law enforcement officials in most cases to investigate the immigration status of anyone they lawfully stop and "reasonably" suspect may be in the country illegally.
Unlike the Arizona law, which raised criticism for leaving very little leeway in allowing law enforcement officials to decide whether to check a person's legal status, the California initiative would allow officials to make a "reasonable attempt" to verify somebody's immigration status, said Michael Erickson, who is spearheading the effort.
"We make it explicitly clear that the officer does not have to seek verification of immigration status if doing so would impede some other investigation he is doing at the time," Erickson said. "It gives law enforcement officers the option under a very narrow circumstance. It's not a requirement. We don't want to interfere with other investigations going on. We don't want to put law enforcement officials in a straitjacket. We just want to give them a tool in their belt."
Immigrant rights supporters are already speaking out against the initiative, calling it divisive.
"It's unfortunate that much-needed resources are going to be spent on efforts to divide and pit California's diverse communities against one another,'' said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman with Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "This measure offers no practical solutions for the state's fiscal or immigration concerns. Rather, it seeks to paint with a broad brush all immigrants as the enemies of the state without recognizing our contributions."
Erickson, a past political consultant and former Sonoma County Republican Party chairman, said he believes the initiative will pass constitutional muster. Parts of the controversial Arizona law were struck down temporarily by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton on the basis that the state law sought to take on the role of the federal government.
Barbara Coe, who heads the California Coalition for Immigration Reform in Huntington Beach, said she supports the spirit of the initiative and thinks it would make a worthwhile law. However, she said she needs to contact Erickson to get more details before encouraging and committing her group to join as volunteers.
One of her most pressing questions?
"Where's the money, honey?" she said.
The initiative's supporters need to gather the necessary 433,971 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the February or June 2012 state ballot.
Gathering that many signatures can be a daunting task, Coe said. It's especially difficult if one relies solely on volunteers and doesn't have the funding for paid signature gatherers, she added.
"They come forward with wonderful initiatives ... with a lot of pledges and promises of bucks but the bucks never showed up,'' she said.
Coe mentioned a state initiative seeking to eliminate birthright citizenship, which fell short of the necessary signatures to get it on the ballot.
"So that's the bottom line. If he can indicate... no... show that he already has some good healthy financial backing ... you better believe that we'll be out there big time," she said.
Erickson said the group is in the process of putting together a strategic funding plan, but didn't say exactly how much the initiative has so far.
Instead, he spoke about what the initiative would do.
"If this passes, the sheriff's department and police department would use this as a tool... to go after the drug couriers and violent gang members who happen to be here illegally," he said. "We are not focusing this initiative to go after farm workers and after menial laborers."
If the initiative becomes law, it would also mandate the state attorney general to have a streamlined process where counties throughout the state would follow the same administrative process of enforcement of illegal immigration laws.
"So you'd have the same level of enforcement in let's say, Humboldt County, that you would have in San Diego. So that all the counties are working off the same playbook," Erickson said.
The measure would also do some of the following:
• Make it a crime for those in the country illegally to seek work while concealing their legal status.
• Mandate all employers in the state to use a federal computer-based system, called E-Verify, which matches a person's name to a given Social Security number, aiming to curtail illegal workers.
• Make it a crime for employers to "intentionally or negligently" hire workers who are not authorized to work
• Set fines and prison sentences for human traffickers who smuggle more than 10 people illegally across the U.S. border
Cabrera had a warning for supporters of the initiative.
"Anti-immigrant legislation proponents should do well in remembering that this past November, candidates who advanced anti-immigrant or tactless ideas and policies went down to defeat," he said. "California is an immigrant state and those who ignore this fact will see their efforts fizzle."
Coe described California as "an animal into itself," making it difficult for these type of initiatives.
"On the flip side of the coin, people are getting more and more distressed about tax dollars going to illegal aliens, and that includes a good percentage of loyal, law-abiding American citizens of Hispanic heritage," she said.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/law-2...?cb=1291351155