Last week, four Republican legislators in Michigan’s House of Representatives–including West Michigan Representative Dave Agema–issued a series of recommendations intended to “crack down” on immigration in Michigan. While the full report is not available online, media reports say that the group of legislators–Agema, Chuck Moss, Philip Pavlov, and Dave Robertson–who make up the Michigan Task Force on Border Security and Immigration Reform are recommending 15 steps to reduce undocumented immigration in Michigan. These steps include requiring the Auditor General to estimate the cost of undocumented immigration, allowing non-federal officials to ask about immigration status, penalizing cities that chose not to enforce immigration law, preventing the use of the Mexican Consular Card as ID, forbidding municipal ID cards, disallowing banks from offering credit to undocumented immigrants, preventing colleges from giving in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, and preventing labor unions from recruiting them.
The legislators say that the recommendations are based on comments that the legislators heard at a series of four public hearings on immigration across Michigan. However, Mediamouse.org reported on one of the hearings in Jenison last year and found that those testifying overwhelmingly presented an anti-immigration perspective. Moreover, the public comment period was short and was originally scheduled to only last 10 minutes.
While the hearing that Mediamouse.org covered was designed to promote the legislators’ pre-existing views, the same seems to be true of statements released accompanying the most recent report. Rather than citing specific facts gained during the hearings, the legislators have a variety of statements on their websites making common–and flawed–assertions about undocumented immigration with no proof. Agema again advocated for stopping undocumented immigrants from receiving driver’s licenses. He also said of undocumented immigration, “…it’s taking your job or your kid’s job. It can be not just in the fields, as most people think, but in the factories, as a contractor, it’s even some electricians and so forth.” Echoing these comments, Representative Pavlov said “illegal immigration has added costs to our education system, it’s adding costs to our health care, police and fire protection, it’s having an adverse affect on Michigan’s economy at a time when we really can’t absorb any more pressure.” He went on to say that “it’s costing the taxpayers of this state millions of dollars every year.” The legislators also raised concerns about “safety” and crime, thereby creating the impression that undocumented immigrants are a threat to public safety.
The legislators largely regurgitated common myths and stereotypes circulated about undocumented immigration by various anti-immigration think-tanks and organizations.
Related posts:
- One-Sided Republican Report Calls for Tougher Immigration Enforcement
- Republican Task Force Holds Hearing on “Illegal Immigration” in West Michigan
- Michigan Senate Excludes Undocumented Immigrants in Congressional Distribution
- West Michigan Representative Agema to Hold Hearing on How “Illegal Immigration” Impacts West Michigan
- Community Leaders Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform as Legislation moves forward in DC
