Illegal Immigrants awaiting the California Initiative that would let them work in Calif. Legally
California Opportunity And Prosperity Act Would Let Undocumented Immigrants Work Legally. A measure to allow close to one million undocumented immigrants to live and work openly in California without fear of deportation could be on the state's November ballot under an initiative unveiled Friday by a state legislator and others.
Democratic Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) filed the proposal, called the California Opportunity and Prosperity Act (COPA), on Friday. The proposal was filed Friday with the state Attorney General's Office, marking a first step toward a drive to collect the 504,760 voter signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
The proposed program seeks to create a "safe harbor" for the employment of undocumented immigrants who "have lived in California for four years, have no felony convictions, are not suspected terrorists, pay a fee to administer the program and can speak English or are learning it."
"Understanding that the federal government is beginning to rank priorities in immigration enforcement, it seemed like a good idea to guide them in this way, saying that we have a pilot program and want to advocate on behalf of these individuals," Fuentes said. "I hope this shows Washington, D.C., that if they fail to act, California will take the lead on this critical issue," Fuentes said in a written statement.
Supporters of the measure argue that the approach is “common sense” and necessitated by the federal government’s inability to take the lead on comprehensive immigration reform. They also make a fiscal policy argument, “…the initiative could generate up to $325 million in new tax revenue from undocumented workers that could assist education, public safety and other state programs.”
They consider that one of the greatest driving forces behind the explosion of economic productivity in the United States during its first two centuries of existence was an unprecedented level of freedom in the flow of ideas, capital, and labor across its borders. Borders do not have to be barriers. They can and should delineate the sovereign territory in which a nation’s laws will be enforced, but that doesn’t require preventing or slowing people, goods, and information from entering and enriching that sovereign territory.
As with most proposed laws that involve undocumented immigrants, however, COPA has its fair share of opponents. Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly spoke out strongly against the measure to the Contra Costa Times. "Not only will the state give you free medical care and free K-12 education, heck, now with the Dream Act, we're giving away free college tuition. We're nuts!" He added, "We don't want any more incentives for people to come here illegally." Barbara Coe with Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform, e-mailed fellow anti-illegal-immigration activists, criticizing the measure and urging them to contact state legislators to stop the law.
The proposed measure comes a month after Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1236 into law, prohibiting the state, cities and counties from mandating that businesses, from requiring employers to use E-Verify, a free Internet-based system that checks if a new employee hire is allowed to legally work in the country. The measure also comes less than a week after Pomona College fired 16 dining hall employees, some of whom had worked at the university for over 30 years, who failed to prove their citizenship.
Sources:
topics.treehugger
Sott.net
msnbc.com
freepublic
huffingtonpost
IndependentVoter..
capoliticalreview
ocregister
California Opportunity And Prosperity Act Would Let Undocumented Immigrants Work Legally. A measure to allow close to one million undocumented immigrants to live and work openly in California without fear of deportation could be on the state's November ballot under an initiative unveiled Friday by a state legislator and others.
Democratic Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) filed the proposal, called the California Opportunity and Prosperity Act (COPA), on Friday. The proposal was filed Friday with the state Attorney General's Office, marking a first step toward a drive to collect the 504,760 voter signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
The proposed program seeks to create a "safe harbor" for the employment of undocumented immigrants who "have lived in California for four years, have no felony convictions, are not suspected terrorists, pay a fee to administer the program and can speak English or are learning it."
"Understanding that the federal government is beginning to rank priorities in immigration enforcement, it seemed like a good idea to guide them in this way, saying that we have a pilot program and want to advocate on behalf of these individuals," Fuentes said. "I hope this shows Washington, D.C., that if they fail to act, California will take the lead on this critical issue," Fuentes said in a written statement.
Supporters of the measure argue that the approach is “common sense” and necessitated by the federal government’s inability to take the lead on comprehensive immigration reform. They also make a fiscal policy argument, “…the initiative could generate up to $325 million in new tax revenue from undocumented workers that could assist education, public safety and other state programs.”
They consider that one of the greatest driving forces behind the explosion of economic productivity in the United States during its first two centuries of existence was an unprecedented level of freedom in the flow of ideas, capital, and labor across its borders. Borders do not have to be barriers. They can and should delineate the sovereign territory in which a nation’s laws will be enforced, but that doesn’t require preventing or slowing people, goods, and information from entering and enriching that sovereign territory.As with most proposed laws that involve undocumented immigrants, however, COPA has its fair share of opponents. Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly spoke out strongly against the measure to the Contra Costa Times. "Not only will the state give you free medical care and free K-12 education, heck, now with the Dream Act, we're giving away free college tuition. We're nuts!" He added, "We don't want any more incentives for people to come here illegally." Barbara Coe with Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform, e-mailed fellow anti-illegal-immigration activists, criticizing the measure and urging them to contact state legislators to stop the law.
The proposed measure comes a month after Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1236 into law, prohibiting the state, cities and counties from mandating that businesses, from requiring employers to use E-Verify, a free Internet-based system that checks if a new employee hire is allowed to legally work in the country. The measure also comes less than a week after Pomona College fired 16 dining hall employees, some of whom had worked at the university for over 30 years, who failed to prove their citizenship.
Sources:
topics.treehugger
Sott.net
msnbc.com
freepublic
huffingtonpost
IndependentVoter..
capoliticalreview
ocregister
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