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Old 05-27-2010, 05:56 PM
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Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
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Default Massachusetts Senate approves proposal to prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining

Massachusetts Senate approves proposal to prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining state services
By Dan Ring, The Republican
May 27, 2010, 9:30PM
This is a 9:30 p.m. update of a story posted at 3:45 this afternoon.

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Senate Thursday approved a sweeping measure to restrict illegal immigrants from obtaining state services including Medicaid and public housing.

Approval of the measure came as the Senate moved to complete a two-day debate on the state budget. The Senate was set to approve $27.8 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The spending plan includes 4 percent cut in unrestricted local aid for cities and towns and a 4 percent cut in general education aid for most school districts.

The debate included a 28-10 vote to approve the budget amendment on immigrants, just a day after the Senate passed a more general amendment requiring people to show proof of citizenship to obtain Medicaid and unemployment benefits. The amendment could run into trouble with the state House of Representatives, which rejected a similar measure last month.

The new measure also bans contractors from bidding on public contracts if they are found to violate federal law prohibiting employment of illegal immigrants, requires companies doing business with the state to verify the citizenship status of their workers through available federal mechanisms, and mandates that the state’s Medicaid program verify immigration status of applicants.

Senate Minority Leader Richard R. Tisei, of Wakefield, said the vote was a win for Republicans who have been pushing for years for greater checks on illegal immigrants.

“It’s something I think is very reasonable,” said Tisei. “ It speaks to the concerns that people have in our state, that state services be prioritized for people who are here legally.”

Juan Martinez, press secretary for Gov. Deval L. Patrick, said that the state already has extensive and rigorous eligibility screenings and residency requirements for benefits such as cash assistance, unemployment compensation and others.

“We will continue to work with the House and the Senate to ensure that any new efforts are not duplicative, too costly, and overly burdensome for all citizens,” Martinez said.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives, during its budget debate, voted 82-75 to defeat an amendment that would have forced state officials to check the immigration status of applicants with the federal government before providing tax-financed benefits.

A House-Senate panel would decide the fate of the issue. The panel will be created to develop a compromise state budget from the versions approved in each branch. The compromise will be sent to the governor, who can veto line items and seek amendments.

Approval of the amendment followed release of a poll of 500 Massachusetts voters by Suffolk University and WHDH-TV Channel 7 in Boston, which found that 84 percent of voters said they supported having the Legislature require people to provide proof of legal residency to receive state benefits. The poll was taken on May 20-33 and with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

An advocacy group for immigrants condemned the Senate vote.

“These powerful people on Beacon Hill showed they are more concerned with protecting their careers than representing some of the poorest and least powerful people in our society,” said Eva Millona, executive director of Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition in Boston.

About 937,200 immigrants live in Massachusetts, with about 20 percent of those here illegally, according to 2008 estimates by the U.S. Census.

Also Thursday, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment to overhaul hiring in the state’s Probation Department, a longtime bastion for patronage and favoritism.

The amendment requires that all new hires, dismissals, appointments, assignments and disciplinary action be approved by the state’s chief justice for administration and management. The Senate also limits the appointment of the probation commissioner to five years and provides the chief administrative justice with authority to transfer money from probation to fill a gap elsewhere in the trial court.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.s...pproves_6.htmlMass. Senate approves new fees for inmates
BOSTON - The Massachusetts Senate has approved a budget amendment that would allow sheriffs to collect up to 10 percent of an inmate’s wages earned while working in jail or a work-release program.
Under the measure, child support, victim fees and other debts would have to be paid before the inmate fee is assessed. A quarter of all inmate fees would go to mental health programs for prisoners.
Any outstanding balance would be wiped away if a released inmate stays out of trouble for two years.
Massachusetts House lawmakers approved another proposal that would charge prison inmates $5 a day.
Critics of the fees say they will make it harder for prisoners to get a foothold in society when they are released and could drive them back to a life of crime.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/po...osition=recentA Massachusetts Move on Immigration Law
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: May 27, 2010
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday approved a series of measures to tighten immigration enforcement, reflecting election-year unease over the issue in a Democratic-controlled Legislature that has spurned such crackdowns in the past. The measures, which passed 28 to 10 in an amendment to a budget bill, would require state contractors to confirm that their workers were here legally and prohibit the contractors from doing business with the state if they were found to employ illegal immigrants.
The changes would also codify into law an existing state policy that bars illegal immigrants from qualifying for resident-tuition rates at state colleges. And they would require public housing agencies to give legal residents priority for subsidized housing.
In addition, the state attorney general’s office would be required to set up a hot line for people to anonymously report businesses that hire illegal immigrants, and to investigate any such reports.
“It’s a reaction to a political climate that has been successfully manipulated by extremist elements,” said Frank Soults, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. “Lawmakers who always supported immigrants before have suddenly turned and voted for the most anti-immigrant bill we’ve seen in Massachusetts in years.”
But Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Democrat who supported the legislation, said it was crucial.
“We have an illegal immigration problem that needs to be addressed here in the Commonwealth,” Mr. Baddour said, “and this is a good bipartisan solution.”
The vote came several weeks after the State House, also controlled by Democrats, narrowly rejected a measure that would have barred illegal immigrants here from receiving state and federal benefits. It is not yet clear how much support the Senate measures will muster in the House.
A Suffolk University/7 News poll released Wednesday found that 84 percent of voters want the state to require proof of citizenship before awarding benefits like public assistance. The poll of 500 registered voters, which had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, also found that 53 percent supported Arizona’s new immigration law.
But only 40 percent said that Massachusetts should pass a similar law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28mass.html

Last edited by Jeanfromfillmore; 05-27-2010 at 07:32 PM.
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