Texas bill targets benefits of immigrants' children

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Lone Star State has long welcomed Hispanic immigrants, no matter how they got across the state's 1,200-mile border with Mexico.

Back when another border state, California, voted to cut public services to undocumented immigrants, then- Governor George W. Bush of Texas was preaching that immigrants were equal players in the state's economy.

The atmosphere has changed in Texas, home to roughly 10 percent US undocumented immigrants. Now, a growing chorus of Republicans and some Democrats is pushing some of the harshest immigration-related measures in the nation -- laws that would not only deny public services to undocumented immigrants but strip their American-born children of benefits as well.

The proposal to deny services to American citizens -- believed to be the first in the country -- is part of a push to challenge the citizenship given automatically to children born in this country.

Previous rulings have affirmed that nearly all such children were entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. But some legal scholars have questioned whether the amendment, which redefined national citizenship to include the children of slaves after the Civil War, should cover babies born to foreign parents. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated last year that more than 3 million US citizens were born to illegal immigrant parents.

"The Texas bill could be a vehicle to get this before the courts, and we strongly support that," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has been pushing Congress to revisit the 14th Amendment. "There is no question that it is time for a review."

Texas's shift toward a more incendiary brand of immigration politics comes as many state lawmakers voice frustration that Washington has failed to stop illegal immigration. Few think that President Bush's moderate proposals, which include a guest-worker program and enhanced border security, will help much, even if they are approved by Congress.

Leo Berman, the Republican legislator who wrote the bill to deny benefits to the children of undocumented immigrants, admits that his goal is to ignite a fight in the federal courts. His legislation has been compared to California's Proposition 187, which would have denied such immigrants social services, healthcare, and public education, but was ruled unconstitutional in 1994.

The Texas bill goes further: It would deny citizens born to undocumented immigrants numerous state services, including unemployment benefits and the ability to obtain professional licenses.

"A pregnant illegal alien can wait at the border, check into a hospital in Texas, give birth without paying a penny, and be rewarded for her illegal behavior," Berman said. "That's outrageous."

Berman's bill is one of more than two-dozen proposals targeting immigration in Texas, including one that would tax money immigrants send home.

Between 1 million and 2 million undocumented immigrants live in Texas.

"Why should illegal immigrants, who by virtue of being in the country have broken the law, be able to get the same state services as a citizen?" asked state Senator Royce West, a Democrat from Dallas who is proposing one of several measures to tax remittances to Mexico. He said his legislation was one way to raise money for healthcare programs.

Hispanic leaders say they are stunned by the proposal to deny services to children. They promise retaliation at the ballot box.

"How could anyone be so mean-spirited?" said Rosa Rosales, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's oldest Hispanic civil rights group, which started in Texas. "We're just going to have to get the community out to show these representatives that we matter."