Immigration suddenly a hot issue in Mass. politics

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Immigration suddenly a hot issue in Mass. politics
BOSTON — Massachusetts' most contentious border may be the one it shares with anti-tax New Hampshire, but that hasn't stopped the question of illegal immigration from catapulting to the front burner of state politics.
In just the past several months, Massachusetts has seen Republican Scott Brown elected to the U.S. Senate in part by opposing driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, while Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick was forced to concede defeat on a bill to give undocumented students the same in-state tuition rates as legal residents.
Then this past week, the Democrat-controlled Massachusetts House came within a hair's breadth of passing a bill that would have required the state to use a new identification system to deny illegal immigrants access to taxpayer-funded benefits from public housing to food stamps.
The fact that the bill nearly passed on 75-82 vote just a year after it was easily defeated by a wider 40-118 vote shows how nervous some Democratic incumbent lawmakers have become in a year when the vastly outnumbered Republicans hope to gain ground.
The GOP also hopes to break the Democratic Party's lock on every statewide and congressional seat in Massachusetts, other than Brown's.
One of those Republicans running for Congress is state Rep. Jeffrey Perry, who authored the amendment. Perry is vying to fill the 10th congressional district seat left open after incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. William Delahunt announced he would not seek re-election.
Perry said he's pushed the amendment because the state can't afford to spend money on illegal aliens, especially during a fiscal crisis when it's forced to cut spending on programs for legal residents.
The amendment would have required anyone seeking a benefit to be cleared by a federal database designed to weed out those in the country illegally. Those with falsified documents would have faced a $5,000 fine or year in jail.
"In the context of a budget debate that cuts local aid ... I think there is more interest among my colleagues to look to see if there is fraud or abuse in those programs," Perry said, adding that his amendment taps into wider concerns about the failure of Congress to deal with the immigration problem.
"It's not one of those issues that goes away if you ignore it," said Perry, R-Sandwich. "It just gets worse."
The vote — which came in the wake of the passage of Arizona's tough new immigration law — immediately caught the attention of the two top candidates hoping to deny Patrick a second term.
Republican Charles Baker said he supports the amendment, which he said would have ensured only legal citizens and Massachusetts residents receive public benefits.
"As governor, I will continue to fully support Representative Perry's amendment and implement it through executive order if necessary," Baker said.
Independent candidate Tim Cahill, a former Democrat, also supports the proposal.
"We have to focus on providing benefits to U.S. citizens first and foremost," he said. "You can't reward illegal behavior because you just encourage more of it."
A spokesman for Patrick shied away from commenting directly on the amendment, but said the state already follows eligibility guidelines for federally funded programs and for many state-funded services where a Social Security number is required.
That serves as an appropriate check on legal status, said Patrick press secretary Juan Martinez.
"Massachusetts is home to a vibrant and diverse immigrant population," Martinez said. "Ultimately this is an issue in need of a federal solution."
Lawmakers who opposed Perry's amendment accused him and other supporters of political grandstanding.
Rep. Antonio F. D. Cabral said the state already has enforcement measures to make sure that those who don't qualify for public benefits are denied access.
He said Perry and other supporters of the amendment failed to offer evidence of fraud to back up their push for the new identification system.
"There are no statistics that there are any attempts by undocumented immigrants to game the system," said Cabral, D-New Bedford. "It's unfortunate that they need to try to attack people to gain politically."
Yet another twist in the illegal immigration debate in Massachusetts has centered on the fate of President Barack Obama's African aunt and Kenyan native Zeituni Onyango.
Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, moved to the United States in 2000. Her first asylum request was rejected, and she was ordered deported in 2004. But she didn't leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston.
In a November interview with The Associated Press, Onyango said she never asked Obama to intervene in her case and didn't tell him about her immigration difficulties.
A February immigration hearing ended without an immediate decision in her second asylum bid.
The case has been taken up as a cause celebre among conservative talk show hosts in Boston, who also latched onto Perry's amendment.
That prompted one of the oddest exchanges of the immigration debate, when a producer for conservative talk radio host Michael Graham e-mailed Rep. David Torrisi, who voted against the amendment, to invite him onto the show.
"Michael Graham is an (expletive)," Torrisi, D-North Andover, e-mailed back. "He can go (expletive) himself for all I care."
Torrisi later said he regretted the profanity but not the intent of the e-mail.
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