BY LINDA BENTLEY | FEBRUARY 23, 2011
Pearce introduces immigration omnibus ‘clean-up’ bill
‘This state … shall not accept a consular identification card that is issued by a foreign government as a valid form of identification …’
PHOENIX – On Monday, Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, introduced SB1611, an immigration omnibus bill, which he says is basically a “clean-up” bill to Proposition 200, passed by voters in 2004, and various subsequent voter-approved statutes requiring people to demonstrate they are legally present in order to obtain public benefits.
The bill requires a recipient of public benefits to present one of seven specific documents in order to demonstrate lawful presence.
Currently, these documents are only required for benefits that require participants to be citizens or legal residents of the United States, or otherwise lawfully present.
Federal law prohibits providing state and local public benefits to illegal aliens with exceptions, such as emergency health care and public health assistance for immunizations.
SB 1611 would require persons to provide documentation for all public benefits, even those which cannot be denied under federal law.
The bill requires the attorney general to provide employers that cannot provide proof they are registered in the E-Verify program with a notice of noncompliance.
If the employer is still not in compliance six months after the notice is issued, SB 1611 requires the AG to order the appropriate agencies to suspend all licenses held by that employer.
All licenses suspended under this subsection would remain suspended until the employer complies.
Public housing authorities, including cities, towns and counties, would be prohibited from offering public housing to any person who cannot provide verification of U.S. citizenship or documented verification of qualified alien status.
SB 1611 further requires public housing authorities to evict all residents of a dwelling unit in rental housing accommodations owned, operated, managed or contracted for by the public housing authority if a resident of that unit allows a person who is in the country illegally to reside in that unit.
Schools are currently required to notify a person enrolling a pupil for the first time that within 30 days that person must provide a certified copy of the pupil’s birth certificate or other reliable proof of the pupil’s identity and age, such as the pupil’s baptismal certificate, application for a social security number, or original school registration records, accompanied by an affidavit explaining inability to provide a copy of the birth certificate. The same documentation must be provided to the county school superintendent if the child is to be home-schooled.
If the person either enrolling or home schooling the student does not comply with that requirement or the affidavit appears inaccurate or suspicious in form and content, the school, school district or superintendent must refer the case to the local law enforcement agency.
SB 1611 increases the penalty from a class 2 to a class 1 misdemeanor for employees of state agencies or political subdivisions that administer federal public benefits, any person who administers or processes any state or local public benefit and supervisors who were aware of an employee’s failure to report discovered violations of federal immigration law and failed to direct the employee to make the report.
The bill identifies commercial or professional licenses, benefits provided by the public retirement systems and plans of this state, and services widely available to the general population as a whole, as state or local public benefit.
While SB 1611 makes it unlawful for a person unlawfully present to operate a motor vehicle, if convicted, it requires the court to order the motor vehicle operated by that person at the time of the offense forfeited, sentence the person to serve at least 30 consecutive days in jail and order the person to pay incarceration costs.
Property subject to forfeiture would be disposed of in accordance with current law but would require the proceeds to be deposited into the General Fund.
Motor vehicle registration applications must include proof satisfactory to ADOT that the applicant’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law, with several exceptions, including 90-day non-registration permits and single trip permits.
There are several other motor vehicle provisions in the bill, one of which specifies that a driver license issued in Arizona on or after October 1, 1996 is evidence that the applicant’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law.
The bill prohibits colleges and universities from admitting any student who does not demonstrate lawful presence in this country.
Unconvinced out-of-state tuition covers the full cost of education, Pearce says it’s pointless to allow illegal aliens to attend college when they cannot legally obtain jobs once they graduate.
Currently, the law prohibits a person who commits a serious felony offense from being able to obtain bond if there is probable cause to believe that person is illegally present. Serious felony offense was defined as class 1 through 4.
SB 1611 changes the definition of serious felony offense to mean any felony or any violation of section 28-1383.
This change would add voter registration fraud and illegal voting, class 5 and class 6 felonies, respectively, to the roster of non-bondable offenses for illegal aliens.
Current law provides for aggravated taking the identity of another person. SB 1611 would require the court to order as an initial term of probation that the person convicted of aggravated taking the identity of another person to be imprisoned in the county jail for not less than 180 consecutive days to commence on the date of sentencing.
The bill amends A.R.S. Title 41, State Government, by adding Chapter 48, which states, “This state or any political subdivision of this state shall not accept a consular identification card that is issued by a foreign government as a valid form of identification.”
And, SB 1611 amends A.R.S. 41-1822, powers and duties of the Police Officer Training and Certification Board, by adding Paragraph E, which states, “The board shall revoke the certification of any officer who refuses to uphold the United States and Arizona constitutions and enforce the laws of this state.”
