Democrats push to extend health, legal rights to immigrants
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Responding to federal inaction over immigration reform, California Democrats on Tuesday announced a package of 10 bills that would extend health care, legal rights and business protection to immigrants who are illegally living in the state.
Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, led the majority party's push to expand health coverage to all Californians, regardless of their immigration status, although they are not proposing any funding to pay for the extensions.
"Today we remind the rest of the nation that California is different," de Leon said at a news conference in Sacramento attended by immigrant-rights advocates and families with members in the country illegally.
Democrats who control the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature have said they want to find ways for immigrants to come out of the state's economic shadows. The 10 bills were previously introduced, but they were touted Tuesday by supporters for advancing immigrants' rights.
Should California Progressives in control of the government be rewarding illegal aliens at the expense of US citizens living in the state? What should minorities do to counter the tremendous economic harm illegal aliens have caused them, given Progressives apparently are no longer interested in them?