Accessibility menu
State Representative Kurt Zellers
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5502
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
COMBATING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION – ENFORCING THE LAW
By Kurt Zellers
State Representative
Recently Governor Pawlenty joined several of us in the Legislature in pass laws to more effectively combat illegal immigration in Minnesota. These changes are necessary in our state to ensure the safety of all citizens, to crack down on rising identity theft crimes, to combat human trafficking and to simply enforce the laws that we have put in place. And even more importantly; to show respect for the thousands of legal immigrants that followed the law, waited their turn and immigrated to our country – legally.
One proposal I strongly support is ending sanctuary cities. Currently cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul snub their nose to federal laws and tell their police officers they cannot ask criminals about their immigration status. Not only is this arrogant, it is putting the citizens they claim to protect in real danger. One only has to pick up the paper or turn on the news at night to see some of the horrific crimes being committed by criminals that should have been deported a long time ago. I have supported this type of legislation many times while being elected. And I will again support Governor Pawlenty with his proposed legislation that would override these existing sanctuary ordinances and require police officers to enforce the law.
One way to curb illegal immigration is to penalize those that are subsidizing or enabling illegal aliens to break the law. The vast majority of the businesses in our state and across the country are following the law and simply trying to get a product to market that you and I will buy. But as always, there are a few bad actors that break the law for greed or expediency. By imposing fines and penalties on those who knowingly hire illegal immigrants we can reduce the incentive for employers to hire illegal immigrants. And, with the help of a state website to verify status, employers will be able to comply without adding huge costs to their bottom line. This will also increase job opportunities for people who are currently unemployed in our state.
Illegal immigrants are often identity thieves, as they need a valid social security number or drivers license to receive their wages from their employer. The Federal Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse reports 2,872 Minnesotans were victims of identity theft in 2006. The state legislature needs to act quickly to increase the penalties and fines for identity thieves and especially the brokers who are selling them this stolen identity data. Honest tax paying citizens should not have their good names and credit destroyed because our state or federal government is not doing enough to crack down on these criminals.
Illegal immigrants not only put an extra burden on our corrective system, but they also stretch our education, welfare, and health care systems to the brink of collapse. Look at some of our southern borders states where hospitals are closing and insurance companies can no longer offer coverage because the system has collapsed from the weight of all the unpaid care. These costs have to be paid and I for one do not want to see our high quality of life deteriorated because we are simply not enforcing the law.
These common sense changes need to be enacted by the legislature in 2008. Many, many other states across the country are passing similar initiatives and doing it in a bipartisan way; Democrats and Republican working together to make their states safer. It’s time our Legislative leaders work with Governor Pawlenty and join other states in our region and across the country to pass these laws that have been proposed for several years.
This is simply enforcing the immigration laws we already have in place, and in some cases the helping the federal government to do the job that they have been failing to do for far too long. But it’s also about respect and appreciation for those who are currently following the rules and waiting their turn to become U.S. citizens. Minnesota has a very long and rich history of immigrants building and making our state a great place to live and raise a family. Let’s continue that tradition and encourage and respect those who have, and are currently, immigrating to our state and nation – legally.
As always if you have any concern on these or any other legislative issues please contact my office at (651) 296-5502, or email me at rep.kurt.zellers@house.mn.
News Items
- Loss of a friend, Stanley Crooks - (Posted: 2012-08-25 00:00:00)
- MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE APPROVES $167.5 MILLION DISASTER RELIEF BILL Reforms targeted at accountability included in bill - (Posted: 2012-08-24 00:00:00)
- HOUSE SPEAKER KURT ZELLERS AND SENATE MAJORITY LEADER SENJEM ANDSTATEMENT ON TODAY’S SUPREME COURT HEARING ON VOTER ID AMENDMENT - (Posted: 2012-07-17 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.