Bill to block illegal immigrants’ benefits fails

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/29/bill_to_block_immigrants_benefits_fails/




The Democrat-controlled Massachusetts House came within a razor-thin margin yesterday of advancing a Republican proposal to block public benefits for illegal immigrants, a reversal from last year when opponents easily torpedoed the measure.

Both sides said the unexpectedly close 75-82 vote reflected growing support for efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in Massachusetts, sparked by the recent passage of a stringent law in Arizona and frustration with stalled congressional efforts to overhaul the immigration system.

The House scuttled the GOP proposal by voting to study it further, a procedural tactic that was also used to quash the bill last year. But last year, the vote was 40-118.

“The issue of immigration is heating up again, primarily because of what’s going on in Washington and what’s going on in Arizona,’’ said Representative Jeffrey D. Perry, the bill’s sponsor, who has been making illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign for the 10th Congressional District.

Opponents of the bill offered similar reasons for the tight margin. “It’s really a very, very sad reflection of how much the anti-immigrant sentiment has been growing in Massachusetts, in our state, that is a welcoming state,’’ said one of the measure’s leading opponents, Eva A. Millona of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. “It’s the Arizona effect in Massachusetts.’’

Perry’s measure, which the Sandwich Republican tried to add as an amendment to the House budget, would have required anyone receiving public benefits to be verified first by the Federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement program, or SAVE. Perry said his goal is to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining access to public housing, unemployment benefits, welfare, or workers compensation. He said lawmakers are concerned, in another tight budget year, about the cost of such benefits for illegal immigrants.

Representative Donald F. Humason Jr., a Westfield Republican, pointed to the case of President Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who has been living in South Boston public housing and fighting a deportation order.

But Millona said that even now, few illegal immigrants apply for public benefits, for fear that they would risk deportation. Even legal immigrants have had their benefits, such as health care, restricted, she said.

However, Millona said the narrow vote in Massachusetts is another sign that Congress should act soon to pass legislation that would allow the nation’s 12 million illegal immigrants, including an estimated 190,000 here, to apply for legal residency.

“If Congress fails to act, then I think this is going to grow even more, and the country will be divided even more,’’ she said. “I think we’re at real risk of damaging the country and our principles.’’

Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, a Boston Democrat, said lawmakers, many of whom are facing Republican challengers this year, are under increasing political pressure to act on immigration.

“It’s an emotional issue for people in their districts, and not only that; it’s an election year,’’ said Sánchez, who opposed the bill. “Everybody’s concerned.’’

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker and independent candidate Timothy P. Cahill have expressed support for Perry’s proposal. “A shame that the Legislature killed Perry’s amendment today,’’ Baker wrote yesterday on Twitter. “It would have prevented taxpayer money from going to illegal immigrants.’’