California 'Bucks The Trend' With New Immigration Laws

California has enacted several laws that benefit immigrants regardless of their legal status, including measures that open state funded scholarships to undocumented students and a law that says employers are not required to use the federal E-Verify program to check employee immigration statuses.

Last weekend, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 131, the second part of the California Dream Act, which allows undocumented university students to apply for state-funded scholarships.

"The big winner with the approval of the California Dream Act is the state because now a lot of young Hispanic immigrants will be encouraged to continue their studies and pursue a profession," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, told Efe.

AB 130, the first part of the Dream Act, signed in July, gave undocumented students access to private scholarship funds.

Los Angeles' Catholic archbishop, Jose Gomez, also hailed AB 131 for enabling young university students to "further their education so that they can one day contribute their talents and skills to the betterment of our society."

The Dream Act complements AB 540, a 2006 state law that authorizes undocumented students to pay in-state tuition if they attended a California high school for at least three years.

Last weekend, Brown also signed a law - AB 1236 - that prohibits cities and counties from passing laws that require employers to use the E-verify federal program to determine the immigration status of their employees.

"California again bucks the trend and sets the foundation to not only recognize the important contributions immigrants make to our society, but to also understand the significant role they play in the state that is the eighth-largest economy in the world," Jeannette Zanipatin, legislative staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said.

Brown also has signed AB 207, which requires school districts to accept a broad range of documents as "reasonable evidence" the student meets residency requirements; and AB 353, which restricts authorities' ability to impound vehicles when the driver's only offense is not holding a valid driver's license.

"California is poised to demonstrate to the nation that success comes from inclusion and integration, not from exclusion and division. These laws are a model for contributing to a tolerant and successful state that respects the rights of all," MALDEF President and General Counsel Thomas Saenz said in a statement.

But not everyone in California supports the new laws.

"We're saying the citizens of other countries - call them whatever you like - should have certain benefits," California Republican Party chairman Tom Del Beccaro said. "That doesn't make any sense, except for the fact that Jerry Brown is trying to make political points."

Even as California has made life easier for its undocumented population, Arizona - with its controversial SB 1070 - and other states have passed laws that crack down on illegal immigration.

Parts of SB 1070, including a controversial provision that requires police officers to try to determine people's immigration status based on "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally, have been blocked in federal court.

Read more from Fox News Latino and be sure to check out Check out the 25 of the Best Communities for Young Latinos slideshow here.

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Comments

[ljblinddog]

11:35 PM on 10/25/2011

If these people are motivated to get an education, if they come here for University, the wisest thing is to assimilate them and allow them to build our economy and our mutually enhanced future.

[sjpersonal]

10:00 PM on 10/25/2011

This idiot will never get my vote!

[DelawareBob]

04:34 PM on 10/16/2011

My grandson wants me to buy him a costume for Halloween. Can I still buy those illegal alien costumes that were out a couple of years ago, somwhere?

[Mulebone]

12:04 PM on 10/16/2011

This is actually good news and that's because if things keep up at this pace all the illegals will end up in California.

Keep up your good works, Mr. Brown.

[Marisa Stein]

01:24 PM on 10/24/2011

good, let em move there

[rp2par]

02:21 PM on 10/24/2011

No!! Please, we have more than our share.

[Cheri Quinn]

02:12 AM on 10/16/2011

I'm proud of my native California for taking a sensible approach to issues of immigration. Marginalizing people and driving them to the shadows makes exploitation possible and helps no one.

[FireThemAll2012]

10:48 PM on 10/15/2011

Way to theow your own citizens and legal residents under the bus.

[RobietheCat]

07:22 PM on 10/14/2011

Illegals, just doing the jobs Americans won't do, like these guys....

San Jose hot dog vendors held on weapons, drug charges
October 14, 2011 | 2:57 pm

"And what would you like to go with that hot dog? Ketchup? Relish? A Smith & Wesson .357 revolver perhaps? Or a side of meth?

Two hot dog vendors were arraigned Thursday on federal weapons and drug charges after agents said the men sold guns and a quarter-pound of methamphetamine to an undercover San Jose police officer.

Jose "Chepe" Golberto Ortiz, 58, and Guillermo "El Gallo" Gonzalez Castillo, 23, were indicted earlier this month. Adding to their difficulties was the fact that neither man could even possess firearms legally.

According to the indictment, Ortiz is a convicted felon and Castillo is in the country illegally.

As reported in the San Jose Mercury News:

"Castillo sold the undercover agent an AK-47 assault rifle and more than 800 rounds of ammunition for $14,000," court documents said. "But this time, ‘El Gallo’ (Spanish for 'rooster') delivered his weapons from a baby carriage that he wheeled to the undercover officer’s car."

The two men were arrested at the hot dog stand, according to the Mercury News, and face lengthy prison terms if convicted.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/10/san-jose-hot-dog-vendors-held-on-weapons-drug-charges.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29

[Garspies]

01:15 AM on 10/15/2011

I would trade those two for one Tim McVey any day.

[FreedomtoSpeak]

06:32 PM on 10/14/2011

I am not a Tea Party member, just an everyday citizen wondering where all this is going. Why are people being rewarded for breaking our residency laws? If there is a Dream Act, where is the clamor to provide this to Haitians who are here illegally? What about Eastern Europeans here illegally? How about West Africans here illegally? Is this open to all illegal students from anywhere in the world?
What about students who come here legally on a study visa but must pay a different fee schedule? What about students who COULD be eligible for taxpayer-supported financial aid but may not recieive it due to adding students who are here illegally? Once the students who are illegal residents go through the higher ed system, what's next? Since they're here without necessary documents who is going to hire them? Maybe that's the next step -- give those folks amnesty who have gone through the Dream Act -- is that their path to citizenship?

Just trying to figure out what the plan is ... I really don't understand.

[Constance Goforth]

08:51 AM on 10/20/2011

#3 ----- for being another ordinary American who is upset by the madness

[by-the-sea-]

04:32 PM on 10/14/2011

What about me? Why are the legal citizens of this state being forgotten? Illegal immigrant's children should not be rewarded for their parent's criminal activity.

[Oneandoneandone]

04:38 PM on 10/14/2011

You advocate punishing a kid with no country thanks to the idiocy of their parents?

[by-the-sea-]

05:04 PM on 10/14/2011

Um, it's called paying your way like everyone else has to!! If you want to live here illegally, do not expect to have the same rights and access to services and aid that we citizens do. Now less students will have access to these scholarships, to make way for illegal immigrants. That is not right, it has nothing to do with punishing anyone. I wouldn't expect to go to Mexico and be eligible for a scholarship. If they want an education here, fine, just don't take away opportunities from deserving citizens.

[Dead Ted]

07:18 PM on 10/14/2011

This bill is punishing AMERICAN kids. Who can actually legally work and pay taxes in this country.

[Al91206]

04:54 PM on 10/14/2011

How particularly does this affect you? If you are a resident of CA you are also (keyword) able to apply for those benefits.

[by-the-sea-]

05:00 PM on 10/14/2011

It affects me because that means less legal citizens will have access to these scholarships. I had to get my loans and pay like most people, and I don't think that illegal residents should be entitled to the benefits that legal citizens receive. I wouldn't dare go to Mexico and expect to receive handouts, or have the same rights as their citizens.

[MikoRose]

02:48 PM on 10/14/2011

Good bye sweet California! I have lived here all my life and have seen first hand the sad state Cali has become. I have seen money given to illegals from many different Countries as the legal residence has either had to move out of state or go bankrupt. This should be a donation cause that people have the freedom to choose to donate to, not forced from our tax money. It is discouraging to see no support for the legal fellow Americans. Many of us are suffering to, but that does not seem to concern many of you.

[LynneP]

02:58 PM on 10/14/2011

I am with you. But I live in AZ. I would be horrified if I lived in CA.

[Al91206]

04:54 PM on 10/14/2011

We would be horrified if you lived here too.

[Al91206]

04:54 PM on 10/14/2011

Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

[mayorarce]

02:32 PM on 10/14/2011

It's not a black and white issue, the benefits for the state that will come out of these measures will far outweigh the current cost. Jerry Brown is not an idiot, he is a much smarter and informed person than the governors of Arizona, Alabama, New Mexico and Georgia all put together and we are a priviliged state having him as our governor. GO JERRY!!!!!

[timbeaux]

07:32 PM on 10/14/2011

The benefits? We're paying for college for people who aren't legally allowed to work? Where's the benefit, a higher average education level in the unemployment line?

Of course, that's not going to happen because this is just one more teensy step toward amnesty and has been since the beginning.

[speedntktz]

07:24 PM on 10/15/2011

Rah! Rah! Rah! Is there another post on this thread where you actually layout any facts supporting your claims? Please come to the front of the class and enlighten all of us on the benefits and how they will outweigh the costs.

[Hrover]

01:37 PM on 10/14/2011

I'm from Poland that over stayed my visa. How do I get all those great benefits. Also, now that it's ok to come here for free Ed. And free medical care lm telling all my family members to come to CA for this. Why, because we are tax payer with our fake social security number.

[happylonersarah]

03:25 PM on 10/14/2011

17 states provide in state tuition to "illegals". Sooo....

[Hrover]

01:37 PM on 10/17/2011

Great, still not right.

[Al91206]

04:57 PM on 10/14/2011

Sigh ... by your sad command of the English language I'm thinking you are an AM radio listening anti-immigrant tea party member, both quite legal and thinking this is some type of sad joke.

[Dead Ted]

07:23 PM on 10/14/2011

If you are going to comment on someone's use of the English language, you might first want to check your own grammatical errors. There are a few.

[speedntktz]

07:27 PM on 10/15/2011

Better English than the crowd outside Home Depot or the Junior High School. Nearly every post you deflect and avoid the point at hand.

[tomeb]

01:04 PM on 10/14/2011

Not a surprise, thru the recent years the legal citizens of Cali been going to CO and UT to escape the decay of what once was a great state!

[Al91206]

04:58 PM on 10/14/2011

California will always be a great state, and we have more than enough "legal citizens" to make up for the "escapees".

[Dead Ted]

07:24 PM on 10/14/2011

More legal citizens have been fleeing this state than have been coming here.

[musterseeds]

12:23 PM on 10/14/2011

FREE load, free entry country , free loader, free welfare, free education and free jobs.

[Hrover]

01:29 PM on 10/14/2011

Amen... And I blame the churches in ca for the mess.

[RobietheCat]

03:51 PM on 10/14/2011

We would do well to remember the causes of the Fall of Rome:

In contrast with the declining empire theories, historians such as Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the Roman Empire itself was a rotten system from its inception, and that the entire Imperial era was one of steady decay of institutions founded in Republican times. In their view, the Empire could never have lasted longer than it did without radical reforms that no Emperor could implement. The Romans had no budgetary system and thus wasted whatever resources they had available. The economy of the Empire was a Raubwirtschaft or plunder economy based on looting existing resources rather than producing anything new. The Empire relied on booty from conquered territories (this source of revenue ending, of course, with the end of Roman territorial expansion) or on a pattern of tax collection that drove small-scale farmers into destitution (and onto a dole that required even more exactions upon those who could not escape taxation), or into dependency upon a landed élite exempt from taxation. With the cessation of tribute from conquered territories, the full cost of their military machine had to be borne by the citizenry.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire

[Jackson Boots]

11:41 AM on 10/14/2011

Del Beccaro is a relic from the past. It is time to move forward and embrace new opportunities. These students will now be tax-paying Californians. That's more than we can say about the richest 2% in the state. Do you think Warren Buffett paid the standard 25% on the $62 million he earned last year? Not!

[RobietheCat]

03:52 PM on 10/14/2011

re: These students will now be tax-paying California­ns.

No they won't, they can't legally work in the US.

[speedntktz]

07:39 PM on 10/15/2011

While I agree with you, the problem is you accurately state "legally work" as one of the biggest Dem states in the country, CA refuse to enforce the E-verify system. They have the ability to prevent the BIG Businesses from exploiting undocumented workers, and yet they don't.