The Secure Immigration Enforcement Act, or AB 26, would allow citizens to sue any local government that operates as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. It would also require every employer in the state to use E-Verify to check on the immigration status of employees.
Tim Donnelly is a Republican assembly member from Southern California and a Tea Party member. During a recent interview on Fox News, Donnelly said that beyond this law, he also wanted to target the use of welfare money by undocumented immigrants.
"When the police come in and ask for IDs, everyone of them produced an EBT card, which is an electronic benefit transfer card," he said, citing as evidence a recent immigration raid in the state. "So, we have a serious problem with welfare. Why don't we get serious and cut it down to 6 months and make it be a hand up and not a hand out?"
Donnelly's bill would also make human smuggling of children across borders a felony.
The assembly member did not respond to our requests for an interview. But during the Fox News interview, he said that illegal immigration is an expensive problem for the state.
"A third of the welfare recipients in the country reside here in California because we're so generous with our benefits," he said.
Donnelly's comprehensive immigration bill was inspired by Arizona's SB 1070.
