Massachusetts home of the Open Borders Kennedy clan, and incidentally where Obama’s Aunt Zeituni lived illegally in public housing for years, seems to be having second thoughts about out of control immigration and the costs to the state budget. Here is a story from the Boston Globe reporting that, in a surprise move, the Massachusetts Senate has voted to clamp down on illegal aliens.
With one lawmaker citing President Lincoln’s respect for the rule of law, the Massachusetts Senate passed a far-reaching crackdown this afternoon on illegal immigrants and those who would hire them, going further, senators said, than any immigration bill proposed over the past five years.
In a surprising turn of events, the legislation replaced a narrower bill that was passed Wednesday over the objections of Republicans.
The measure, which passed on a 28-10 vote as an amendment to the budget, would bar the state from doing business with any company found to break federal laws barring illegal immigrant hiring. It would also toughen penalties for creating or using fake identification documents, and explicitly deny in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.
The amendment would also require the state’s public health insurance program to verify residency through the Department of Homeland Security, and would require the state to give legal residents priority for subsidized housing.
The amendment will now be part of negotiations with the House as part of the entire state budget.
Read it all.
Meanwhile, the Obama Dept. of Justice is going after a previous immigration bill in Arizona signed by Janet Napolitano when she was governor. Apparently they are seeking to gain federal control (taking any legal power from the states) of all immigration issues.
By effectively joining the challenges to the law, the Obama Administration is asserting broad federal control of immigration–a position that will make it easier to pursue a lawsuit against the more controversial immigration law passed in Arizona this year allowing local police to make arrests of non-citizens lacking legal status. The administration is also siding with immigrant-rights groups who have accused the White House of not making immigration reform a priority.
See Politico here. Hat tip: Susan
I’m not a lawyer, but I am guessing that if they are successful, Massachusetts would not be able to do what the Senate hopes to do.