Urgent Action Alert For AZ State Legislature

Border Action Network alerts Arizona residents to the following proposals set for a vote this coming Thursday. We are urging everyone to call the following state legislators and request that they vote "NO" to preserve the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and avoid the creation of clearly divided lines of citizenship types. (unless, of course, they're willing to make it retroactive back to the signing of the Constitution...then I have no problem with it).

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Urgent State Legislative Action! You've heard about the bill to mark birth certificates of immigrant children and deny citizenship to children born to non-citizens? Well, they are up for a committee vote this week!

FIVE absurd bills will be considered this Thursday, February 7th at 9:00am by the Arizona Senate's Public Safety and Human Services Committee. Please contact the committee members TODAY to let them know that you DO NOT SUPPORT these bills and urge them to VOTE AGAINST THEM.

Your email or call makes a difference! The anti-immigrant, Minutemen types bombard elected officials with phone calls, emails, and faxes. Don�t let their fear-mongering and immigrant scapegoating by the only voice they hear.
How to Take Action:

Below are brief descriptions of each bill, talking points and contact information for the Committee members. For more information visit www.azleg.gov If you are in the Phoenix area, join us at the Committee hearing on Thursday at 9:00 am

Contact the Border Action office for more information at ban@borderaction.org or 520-623-4944).

*Make sure to include your address in your email. Keep it short and sweet and be sure to clarify that you want them to VOTE AGAINST THESE BILLS.

S1072 Illegals; AHCCS; Proof of Citizenship
Senator Harper; Representative Pearce: Senators Burns, Huppenthal
"AHCCCS eligibility workers must reject applicants who present identification from jurisdictions which issue IDs but do not verify the immigration status of the applicant. Further, AHCCCS must report to federal immigration authorities any undocumented immigrant who applies for benefits. An AHCCCS employee who fails to do so is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor as is the employee's supervisor if the supervisor knew of the failure and did not order the employee to make the report. Any resident of the state has standing to bring suit against AHCCCS for violation of this act. Courts must give preference to actions brought under this act over other civil actions pending in the court. A class 2 misdemeanor carries a jail sentence of up to 4 months and a fine of up to $750."

S1009 Immigration Status; Benefits; DHS
Sponsor: Senator Harper
"The Dept of Health Services must verify the immigration status of applicants for any benefits or services provided by the department. The department must refuse to accept an applicant's identification if it was issued by an agency that does not verify immigration statutes before issuance. DHS employees must report violations of federal immigration law to federal authorities, and failure to do so is a class 2 (mid-level) misdemeanor. If a DHS employee fails to report the violation and the employee's supervisor knew of the instance and did not direct the employee to make the report, the supervisor is also guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor."

SCM1003 Illegal aliens; children; noncitizenship status
Sponsor: Senator Johnson; Burges, Kavanagh, Pearce, L. Gray, Harper
"The Legislature urges Congress to pass legislation clarifying the 14th Amendment as denying citizenship to children of illegal aliens simply by virtue of being born in the U.S."

SCR1012 Secure and verifiable identification
Sponsor: Senator Harper; Burges
"The 2008 general election ballot is to carry the question of whether to amend statutes to require political subdivisions of this state to accept only verifiable (defined) identification documents and prohibit disbursement of public services unless the recipient produces identification that is issued by a political subdivision of this state, a federally recognized Indian tribe or a state or federal authority and that is verifiable (defined) by a law enforcement or Homeland Security agency. A legislative history section states that the purpose of the referendum is to give the qualified electors the opportunity to override the governor's 2005 veto of SB1511."

SCR1016 Birth certificates; illegal aliens; children
Senator Johnson; Representatives Groe, Pearce: Senators Gould, Harper, Verschoor; Representatives Anderson, Kavanagh
"The 2008 general election ballot is to carry the question of whether to amend statutes to recite that unless at least one parent of a child born in this state is able to prove US citizenship, the child will be issued a certificate that states it was born to parents who were not in this country legally and that the child is not eligible for benefits that require US citizenship."

Senator Members of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee:
Linda Gray (R-LD10), Chairman (602) 926-3376 lgray@azleg.gov
Jack Harper (R-LD4), Vice Chairman (602) 926-4178 jharper@azleg.gov
Chuck Grey (R-LD19) (602) 926-5288 cgrey@azleg.gov
John Huppenthal (R-LD20) (602) 926-5261 jhuppenthal@azleg.gov
Leah Landrum Taylor (D-LD16) (602) 926-3830 llandrumtaylor@azleg.gov
Rebecca Rios (D-LD23) (602) 926-3830 rrios@azleg.gov
Victor Soltero (D-LD29) (602) 926-5342 vsoltero@azleg.gov

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Link to talking points can be found here. Please don't let this slip under the wire.