Critics worry voter ID proposal would disenfranchise citizens

Kevin Sieff (The Brownsville Herald)
BROWNSVILLE -- Proposed changes in the state's voting laws could force thousands of South Texans to prove their citizenship in order to vote in local, state and national elections.

During the coming legislative session, Texas Republicans plan to introduce a measure that would target perpetrators of voter fraud, especially non-citizens. The stringent voting regulations -- dubbed the "voter suppression bill" by opponents -- are already being discussed by Texas state representatives.

On Friday, members of the House's elections committee met at the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College to take testimony related to voting reform.

If voters are required to provide proof of citizenship - as last year's failed House Bill 626 would have mandated -- South Texans will likely be among the most adversely affected.

Many Rio Grande Valley residents delivered by midwives are currently struggling to get passports because of U.S. State Department suspicions that their birth certificates were fraudulently provided. See ACLU Lawsuit

At the hearing Friday, immigration attorney Lisa Brodyaga estimated thousands of passport applicants -- almost all of them South Texas residents -- are struggling to prove they were born in the United States. If voters are required to provide proof of citizenship, many worry the same people will be disenfranchised.

"These cases reveal serious flaws with the proposal to require proof of citizenship in order to vote," said Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, the chairman of Friday's hearing.

But House Republicans continue to stress the importance of voting reform.

In a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote that "serious allegations of voter fraud have persisted, especially in South Texas, for more than a century."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has made it clear that cracking down on voter fraud will be one of his priorities this session, said Rich Parsons, a spokesperson for Dewhurst.

"He wants to make sure that only U.S. citizens are casting their vote in U.S. elections," Parsons said.

In addition to the proof of citizenship requirement, House Republicans have also pushed a voter-identification bill that would require voters to present government-sanctioned photo identification, such as a driver's license, at the polls, in addition to a valid voter registration card.

But two recent studies found that voter-identification requirements could keep current voters away from the polls.

In 2006, the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found that 25 percent of African-Americans, 18 percent of seniors over 65, and 15 percent of voters earning under $35,000 a year do not have government-issued photo identification.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, conducted by researchers from Rutgers and Ohio State universities, found that in 2004, states with voter-identification laws experienced a drop in turnout, including a 10 percent drop in Hispanic voters.

Immigrant 'sanctuary city' idea under scrutiny

Two Texas lawmakers ask attorney general for opinion ahead of 2009 session.

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Signaling a revival of the illegal immigration debate in the 2009 legislative session, two Republican state lawmakers have asked Attorney General Greg Abbott to weigh in on a thorny subject: "sanctuary cities."

The term has been used to describe Austin, Houston and dozens of other cities across the United States that don't require police or other municipal employees to report to federal authorities people who may be in the country illegally.

In a letter sent to Abbott this month, Rep. Frank Corte Jr. of San Antonio and Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston asked whether the Texas Legislature has the authority to deter local governments from adopting policies — or to invalidate existing policies — that hinder state enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Such policies "would include those that prevent local citizens, officials, or law enforcement agencies from cooperating with the federal government regarding a person's immigration status," their letter says. "Although federal law expressly forbids local policies that prohibit or restrict information regarding immigrant status, sanctuary cities continue to support such policies."

The lawmakers' letter doesn't name Austin. But advocates of tougher illegal immigration enforcement have labeled Austin and other cities as sanctuary cities, saying they prohibit local law enforcement from inquiring about a person's immigration status or bar local agencies from sharing information about immigration status with the federal government. Such practices make the cities havens for illegal immigrants and criminals, critics say.

City officials dispute the idea that Austin is a sanctuary city. They say nothing prevents police from asking about the immigration status of a person they're investigating but that officers don't routinely do that because their job is to solve crimes, not be immigration officials.

Current policy prohibits Austin police from stopping or detaining people solely to check their immigration status or from checking the immigration status of victims or witnesses. It does require cooperation with immigration officials to help identify illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

Immigrant advocates say such policies encourage victims and witnesses of crimes to come forward without fear of being deported, and police have said such treatment makes the city safer for everyone.

Former Mayor Gus Garcia said confusion about the sanctuary issue may stem from a 1997 City Council resolution declaring the city a "safety zone, where all persons are treated equally, with respect and dignity, regardless of immigration status." The resolution says the city will not discriminate or deny city services on the basis of a person's immigration status.

Garcia said it was approved partly to deter racial profiling by police officers.

He said he has told undocumented immigrants that if they commit a crime, they will be punished like anyone else if convicted.

"We never said we are inviting people to come here because this is a sanctuary city," Garcia said Tuesday.

Corte, chairman of the Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations Committee in the Texas House, said he sought the attorney general's opinion because what the state can and cannot do in the arena of immigration enforcement "is an important issue with a lot of our constituents. ... Citizens feel laws are not being upheld, and they as taxpayers are having to pay for citizens who are breaking the laws."

In their letter, Corte and Patrick cite a 2007 Oklahoma law that prohibits sanctuary cities.

Corte acknowledged that immigration laws are considered a federal responsibility and that the Oklahoma law might be challenged in federal court.

But, he said, "we should have the ability to enforce our laws. If someone commits a crime in our state and we find out they're an illegal alien, I think that needs to be one of the things we prosecute illegal aliens for."

During the 2007 legislative session, Republicans led an assault on illegal immigration, sponsoring more than three dozen bills that sought to make it harder for illegal immigrants to live in the state.

An estimated 1.5 million illegal immigrants live in Texas; 12 million nationally.

At least 20 of the immigration bills never made it out of the House State Affairs Committee after its chairman, David Swinford, R-Dumas, said that lawyers from the attorney general's office had advised him that the proposals might not pass legal challenges or were trumped by federal law.

As lawmakers prepare for the next legislative session, Corte said, "it'd be nice to have the attorney general tell us that."


Is Austin a sanctuary city?

Cities that prohibit local law enforcement from inquiring about a person's immigration status or bar local agencies from sharing information about immigrant status with the federal government are often labeled 'sanctuary cities.' Advocates of immigration enforcement contend the policies make the cities havens for illegal immigrants and conflict with federal immigration law.

In 1997, the city of Austin passed a resolution declaring the city a 'safety zone' in which everyone is treated equally regardless of immigration status.

Current policy prohibits Austin police from stopping or detaining people solely to check their immigration status or checking the immigration status of victims or witnesses, but does require cooperation with immigration officials to help identify illegal immigrants who commit crimes.


'Don't ask' cities

In addition to Austin, Houston and Katy, other cities identified as having 'don't ask, don't tell' policies regarding illegal immigrants, according to a 2006 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service include Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Madison, Wis.


jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

Texas lawmakers consider new immigration laws

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - A couple of lawmakers want to know whether Texas can punish employers who hire undocumented workers and prohibit cities from adopting so-called sanctuary policies.

"We need to make sure that we uphold our laws," said state Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio.

Corte and state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, sent Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott two letters earlier this month, asking him to rule whether anti-immigration measures similar to ones adopted in Arizona and Oklahoma, would meet constitutional muster here.

Last year, several Republican lawmakers proposed a smorgasbord of anti-immigration bills, but nearly all of them failed after the attorney general said they would violate the constitution or overstep federal authority. House leaders had asked Abbott to review all the proposals after they were filed.

Corte said it would be nice to know before the 2009 legislative session what authority Texas has to enforce immigration laws.

"I'd hate for us to spend a bunch of time debating something we don't have clarity on," he said.

In one letter, Corte and Patrick asked whether Texas could adopt a measure similar to one in Arizona that penalizes companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.

The Arizona law allows the suspension and revocation of business licenses for companies that employ undocumented immigrants.

The other letter asks whether Texas lawmakers can adopt a policy that prohibits cities from barring police from turning undocumented immigrants over to federal agents.

"I think if we have laws that aren't being upheld, laws that are not being enforced, we need to do that," Corte said.

Police Chief Greg Allen said El Paso is not a sanctuary city and that his officers do hand over to federal officials undocumented immigrants who have broken the law.

But, he said, tracking down undocumented immigrants, is not the department's primary concern.

"We don't have the staffing; we don't have the expertise" to enforce federal immigration laws, Allen said, adding that to do so would take valuable time and resources away from fighting crime in the city.

Ray Adauto, executive vice president of the El Paso Association of Builders, said the federal government already levies steep fines from employers caught with undocumented workers.

The association, he said, urges builders to comply with the law and ensure that subcontractors they use hire legal workers.

Adding another layer of state penalties, he said, wouldn't necessarily stop companies that are determined to break the law.

"I think there's enough labor force right now with the slowdown in the marketplace that people don't need to go out and hunt for people of that nature," Adauto said.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said the nation needs one good federal immigration system, not a bunch of bad ones developed by individual states.

Immigration policy, he said, should be left up to the federal government.

"Lets face facts," Shapleigh said. "The U.S. needs a vibrant labor force in technology, health services, construction and agriculture. Immigrants have shouldered that burden for years."

Brandi Grissom can be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; (512) 479-6606.

Report Examines Why Texas Ranks High for Identity Theft

Written by Identity Theft Daily Staff
Thursday, 26 June 2008

The problem of identity theft is reaching epidemic levels in many areas of Texas, which ranks 2nd in the nation for identity theft complaints, according to the most recent Federal Trade Commission statistics. The investigation also determined that employment-related identity theft, especially when connected to illegal immigration, is the largest single use of stolen identities in the state. The findings include:

Approximately 880,400 Texans became victims of identity theft in 2007. This is roughly equivalent to every citizen in Austin, Edinburg and Midland having their identities stolen in a single year

In several South Texas cities, the rate of identity theft stories is more than twice the national average

Costs of Identity theft for Texas victims is an estimated $435.7 million in 2007

Texas residents spent a total of 3.5 million hours resolving identity theft issues

“Each year millions of consumers fall victim to different forms of this devastating crime and this report highlights new hot spots and potential reasons for the high numbers in Texas,” said Steve Christenson, President of Identity Theft 911. The report also highlights the leadership role Texans have played in trying to fight identity theft.

“Identity theft and illegal immigration go hand in hand,” said Lt. Mark Elbert of the Brownsville (TX) Police Department. “Some other areas might have a big problem with drugs or robbery… I can tell you that identity theft is the top problem we have.”

“We know we can’t prosecute our way out of this,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says in the report. “We have to educate people about how to protect themselves.”

Control of colonias sought by counties

Control of colonias sought by counties
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- County officials from across the state told lawmakers Wednesday that they need authority to regulate development in rural areas, a sentiment border officials dealing with colonias have echoed for years.

"Every session we've presented bills to try to give counties ordinance-making authority," said El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez.

In advance of the 2009 legislative session, the Texas Senate International Relations and Trade Committee was seeking input from local officials on ways to prevent substandard housing from cropping up in unincorporated areas.

It's a problem that has plagued border communities for decades. El Paso alone is home to nearly 300 colonias, and the Texas attorney general's office has data on about 2,000 substandard housing developments on the border.

But in recent years similar developments have begun sprouting in urban counties across the state as housing becomes more expensive in large cities.

John Henneberger, co-director of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, called them "non-border colonias." "The problem we have here is a lack of affordable housing," he said.

Counties have noordinance-setting authority and cannot enforce building codes or zoning restrictions to ensure that new homes and businesses are built to modern standards. Developers can buy land, build homes that do not meet typical standards and sell them cheaply.

"No one should be able move to the county in order to be able to escape minimum building codes and living standards," Henneberger said.

Some county officials told lawmakers they wanted to charge developers a fee to build in unincorporated areas.

Sarah Eckhardt, commissioner in Travis County, said counties needed to be able to plan for new developments, to provide adequate roads and to ensure quality water for residents.

"Local control is all we're asking for," she said.

Rodriguez, who was not at the meeting, said in a phone interview that border-specific, anti-colonia legislation approved in previous years has limited the growth of substandard developments in El Paso. But because counties have no regulatory authority, he said, incompatible industries and homes can be built near one another, giving rise to health and safety concerns.

"You have junkyards and scrap-metal businesses and burning facilities right next to residential areas," he said.

El Paso County Commissioner Miguel Terán said in a phone interview that counties face major expenses to later create roads and build infrastructure to accommodate substandard homes built in rural areas.

"There's a need to have some ordinance-making power," he said. "There's a need to have planning powers."
Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com;512-479-6606.