[EFE News Service - 1/17/02] Santa Ana - The California Coalition for Immigration Reform launched a state-wide campaign against illegal immigration, hoping post-Sept. 11 concerns will renew interest in its initiative.
Coalition president Barbara Coe told the press Tuesday that the new measure, known as the "Homeland Security Initiative," is aimed at stripping illegal immigrants' access to public services.
The group's initiative, a modified version of Proposition 187, proposes amending the California Constitution. Coe helped pass Proposition 187 in 1994, but the proposal was later suspended by the courts as unconstitutional and eliminated by Gov. Grey Davis.
The new measure would force public officials to check the legal status of everyone applying for social benefits. Under the proposal, all illegal immigrants who apply for public benefits would be arrested on the spot and transferred to the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
Coe told the Orange County Register she is collecting signatures to put the Homeland Security Initiative to a vote in the next state elections. The difference between Proposition 187 and the Homeland Security Initiative is that the latter was reviewed by five attorneys, including two specialists in constitutional law, Coe noted.
Harold Martin, a member of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, told the daily that Mexican immigrants want "to overthrow our culture, our way of life." "Their objectives are no different than Osama bin Laden's," Martin said.
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[posted 1/20/02]
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