BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AJR 49
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 12, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AJR 49 (Gonzalez) - As Introduced: July 2, 2014
As Proposed to be Amended
SUBJECT : IMMIGRATION
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD THE LEGISLATURE CALL ON PRESIDENT OBAMA TO
TAKE EXECUTIVE ACTION TO SUSPEND ANY FURTHER DEPORTATIONS OF
LEGALIZATION-ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS WITH NO SERIOUS CRIMINAL
HISTORY?
SYNOPSIS
This resolution notes that an increasing number of immigrants
have been deported in recent years, including many who have no
serious criminal history. According to the resolution, many
deportees are parents of U.S. citizen children who are often
left with no parental guidance or care and a highly unstable
financial situation as the result of the deportation. The
resolution calls on the President to take executive action to
suspend any further deportations of legalization-eligible
individuals with no serious criminal history. This resolution
is substantively identical to SR 40 (Correa) which passed the
Senate with bipartisan support. There is no known opposition.
SUMMARY : Makes certain findings and calls on President Obama to
take certain actions regarding deportation of specified
immigrants. Specifically, this measure provides:
1)According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2011, there were 11.1
million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States;
2)Deportations have reached record levels under President Obama,
rising to an annual average of nearly 400,000 since 2009;
3)According to Members of Congress Raul M. Grijalva and Yvette
Clarke, although the Obama Administration reportedly
prioritized deporting only criminals, many individuals with no
serious criminal history consistently have been deported;
4)Increased deportations and a continuously broken immigration
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system exacerbate the living conditions of United States
citizen children whose parents have been deported;
5)Separation of children from their parents, irrespective of
immigration status, always results in severe consequences for
young children, who are often left with no parental guidance
or care and a highly unstable financial situation;
6)As immigration continues to be at the center of a national
debate, President Obama and Congress must implement a more
humanitarian immigration policy that keeps families together;
7)California is home to approximately 10.3 million immigrants of
which approximately 2.6 million are not authorized to live in
the United States;
8)Many Members of Congress recently signed a letter requesting
President Obama to suspend any further deportations; and
9)Since California is home to a large number of unauthorized
immigrants from all parts of the world, this state should make
it a priority to keep families together and continue to press
President Obama and Congress for a solution to our broken
federal immigration system.
10)Urges President Obama to take executive action to suspend any
further deportations of legalization-eligible individuals with
no serious criminal history.
EXISTING LAW , pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, locates the
authority to regulate immigration and naturalization exclusively
with the federal government. (U.S. Const., art. I, section 8,
clauses 3 and 4; LULAC v. Wilson, (1995) 908 F. Supp. 755,
786-87; See also Takahashi v. Fish & Game Commission (1948) 334
U.S. 410, 419 (because the federal government bears the
exclusive responsibility for immigration matters, the states
"can neither add to nor take from the conditions lawfully
imposed by Congress upon admission, naturalization and residence
of aliens in the United States or the several states.")
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this measure is keyed
non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : The author explains the reason for the measure as
follows:
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Under President Obama, deportations have risen to an
average of 400,000 a year since 2009. Increased deportation
and a broken immigration system harm the living conditions
of U.S. citizen children whose parents have been deported.
Separating families because of deportation can have severe
consequences, especially for those children who are left
without parental care in a highly unstable financial
situation.
Therefore, it is vital that the state Legislature support
an end to the deportation of legalization-eligible
immigrants and back a more humanitarian immigration policy
that keeps families together. The fiscal and social cost to
California due to family separations and the loss of their
children is enormous and inhumane.
AJR 49 calls upon President Obama to expand temporary
protective status to all legalization-eligible immigrants
through an executive action. This would initiate a
'deferred action' legalization process and cease the
deportation of all eligible immigrants and families who
have no serious criminal history, until Congress adopts
humane and inclusive comprehensive immigration reform
legislation.
The need for comprehensive immigration reform has been at the
forefront of national debate for many years. As the resolution
cites, based on data collected by the United States Census
Bureau as of March 2010, an estimated 11.2 million unauthorized
immigrants reportedly live in the United States, making up four
percent of the nation's population, and 5.2 percent of the
nation's workforce. (Passel and Cohn, Unauthorized Immigrant
Population: National and State Trends, 2010 (Feb. 1, 2011)
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/iv-state-settlement-pattern
s/.)
According to a 2011 research project, California has by far the
largest unauthorized-immigrant population (2.55 million), which
accounts for 6.8 percent of the state's population, and is among
the states where unauthorized immigrants constitute the largest
shares of the overall populations. (Passel and Cohn,
Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends,
2010 (Feb. 1, 2011) http://www.pewhispanic.
org/2011/02/01/iv-state-settlement-patterns/.) Further,
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unauthorized workers constitute roughly ten percent of
California's labor force and are especially likely to hold
low-skilled jobs. (See Pew Hispanic Center, A Portrait of
Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States (Apr. 14, 2009).)
On June 15, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security issued a
directive creating deferred action for certain undocumented
individuals who came to the United States as children and who
have pursued education or military service. Under this federal
program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA),
approved applicants are granted deferred removal action, which
may stop pending deportation proceedings or preclude the federal
government from starting deportation proceedings against them.
DACA does not grant lawful permanent residence or citizenship to
these individuals, but if their applications are granted, they
are lawfully permitted to work in the United States for a period
of two years and may apply for renewal. Notably, one of the
qualifications is that the individual has not been convicted of
a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor, or more than three
misdemeanors, and does not pose a threat to national security or
public safety. At the same time, deportations have reached a
record level, rising to an annual average of 400,000 since 2009.
(Lopez, As Deportations Rise to Record Levels, Most Latinos
Oppose Obama's Policy (Dec. 28, 2011)
http://www.pewhispanic.org/
2011/12/28/as-deportations-rise-to-record-levels-most-latinos-opp
ose-obamas-policy/.) According to the National Immigration Law
Center, more than 1,000 immigrants are separated from their
families and communities each day.
Other recent California legislation urged Congress and the
President to develop a comprehensive approach to immigration
reform. (See AJR 15 (De Leon, Res. Ch. 62, Stats. 2010); AJR 15
(De Leon, Res. Ch. 60, Stats. 2010.)
This resolution would urge President Obama to take executive
action to suspend any further deportations of
legalization-eligible individuals with no serious criminal
history. Given that DACA provides for suspension of deportation
of individuals with no serious criminal history and California's
legislative history supporting the enactment of DACA and urging
immigration reform, this resolution is arguably consistent with
current public policy and prior legislative findings and
declarations regarding immigration reform.
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Author's Technical Amendments . To correct drafting errors, the
author proposes the following minor amendments:
WHEREAS, Separation of children from their parents, irrespective
of immigration status, always results in severe consequences for
young children , who are often left with no parental guidance or
care and a highly unstable financial situation; and
?
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges President Obama
to take executive action to suspend any further deportations of
legalization-eligible unauthorized individuals with no serious
criminal history; and be it further
Prior/Pending Related Legislation . SR 40 (Correo) 2014,
containing virtually identical language to AJR 49, was recently
adopted.
AB 692 (Gonzalez) would require the Secretary of State to submit
to the voters at the November 4, 2014 election an advisory
question asking whether the Congress of the United States should
immediately reform our immigration laws and pass comprehensive
immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for
immigrants meeting certain requirements, as specified, and
whether the President of the United States should halt
deportations of those immigrants until that new immigration law
is passed. Pending in Sen. Appropriations.
AJR 3 (Alejo) 2013 set forth goals for the reform of the
nation's immigration system, and urged Congress and the
President of the United States to take a humane and just
approach to solving the nation's broken immigration system.
Chaptered.
SJR 8 (Correa) 2013 recognized principles for repairing the
nation's historically broken immigration system, and urged
Congress and the President of the United States to take a
comprehensive and workable approach to improving the nation's
immigration system using those principles. Chaptered.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California-Mexico Studies Center, Inc.
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Hermandad Mexicana Humanitarian Foundation
Protect Our Families - Save the Children Campaign
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Kevin G. Baker / JUD. / (916) 319-2334