California initiative would target illegal immigrants' U.S.-born kids

In a stretch of desert near the U.S.-Mexico border, men and women in khakis and the colors of the U.S. flag gathered recently at a watch post they call Camp Vigilance and discussed their next offensive in the immigration wars.

The target: illegal immigrants and their U.S.-citizen children. The tool: a California initiative that would end public benefits for illegal immigrants, cut off welfare payments for their children who are citizens and alter rules for birth certificates.

"We will be out in full force to qualify this initiative [for the June 2010 ballot]," said Barbara Coe, who helped develop Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that would have ended benefits to illegal immigrants, but was ruled unconstitutional. "Illegals and their children are costing the state billions of dollars. It's invasion by birth canal."

The proposal, unveiled by San Diego political activist Ted Hilton, is believed to be one of the first attempts to end benefits for the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. Supporters hope to use the initiative to challenge the automatic citizenship of children born in the U.S. to parents here illegally.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution says "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Backers of the initiative contend illegal residents are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States and that, as a result, their U.S.-born children should not be citizens.

Hilton, Coe and their allies have many hurdles to cross before they can argue that point in court. Hilton said organizers have raised less than 10 percent of the $4 million generally needed to gather the 488,000 signatures required to put a statewide initiative on the ballot.

But illegal immigration was a powerful political issue in the state's last deep economic downturn in the early 1990s, and the initiative's backers hope it will be again. Hilton's organization, Taxpayer Revolution, has gathered endorsements from elected officials, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the American Legion's California chapter and several prominent immigration restrictionist groups.

Officials estimate the state's 2.7 million illegal residents add $4 billion to $6 billion to the state's roughly $105 billion budget, primarily for schools, prisons and emergency health care. They pay taxes and contribute labor, but most research indicates costs to state and local governments outweigh additional tax revenue, at least in the short term.

"Are we going to [ask] taxpayers to pay for these services when the state is completely out of money?" asked Hilton, a real-estate broker.

Los Angeles attorney Peter Schey, who successfully challenged Proposition 187, said courts almost certainly would throw out the measure. "It is plainly driven by racism and a desire to whip up xenophobia during difficult economic times for U.S. citizens," he said.

Backers, however, say they have crafted the measure to avoid the legal pitfalls that doomed Proposition 187, which would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving social services, education and nonemergency medical care. Voters approved it handily, but a federal judge ruled it unconstitutionally usurped federal jurisdiction over immigration.

One attorney, Mike Hethmon with the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington, D.C., said the new measure is based on delegated federal authority that states have been given to restrict access to benefits and verify eligibility. The measure also doesn't attempt to curtail access to education, protected under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling. All applicants for public benefits would be required to verify their legal status.

The most controversial provisions would end state welfare to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. In an effort to avoid discrimination claims, payments to children whose parents are citizens or legal residents would be cut if the parents don't meet eligibility requirements for reasons including unwillingness to work, addiction to drugs or absence.

The initiative also would require that applicants for birth certificates verify their legal status. Those who can't would have to present official ID from a foreign government, a record of any publicly funded costs for delivering the child and other information before receiving a birth certificate, which would be marked with the notation "foreign parent." The records would be sent to Homeland Security officials.

"You can't deny a U.S. citizen child a birth certificate," said Kristina Campbell, of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "They are entitled to equal protection of the law."

The views at Camp Vigilance were different. "Those who break our laws should not benefit from it," said Tony Dolz, a Cuba native and campaign volunteer.