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1995 SESSION

LD3571607
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 341
Offered January 23, 1995
Memorializing Congress to fulfill its acknowledged obligation to reimburse the states for the costs of services provided to illegal immigrants.
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Patrons--Barry, Benedetti, Hawkins, Potts, Quayle, Robb, Stolle, Stosch and Wampler
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Referred to the Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 1, Section 8, and Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, the federal government has the sole authority to regulate immigration, to protect states from invasion, and to guarantee states a republican form of government; and

WHEREAS, the President and Congress set the limits for the number of legal immigrants who each year enter this country to reside and also require the states to provide education, emergency medical care and incarceration for many undocumented immigrants with little or no reimbursement; and

WHEREAS, while professing a moral obligation to reimburse the states for the costs which result from their immigration policy, Congress has continued to renege on its promise; and

WHEREAS, many states, especially those with large concentrations of undocumented immigrants living within their borders, have made their complaints in the form of suits in federal courts to recover some of the costs which the states feel result from the failure of the federal government to enforce the nation’s borders and provide adequate resources for immigration; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has recently begun to review the issue through the creation of a national committee on immigration reform, whose final report is due in 1997, and by providing additional money for some programs, especially border control and reimbursement for the incarceration of convicted offenders; and

WHEREAS, many states are being hard hit by budgetary cutbacks and are feeling the impact on state revenues and expenditures incurred by these federal mandates; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That it is the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia that the federal government should honor its obligations, both constitutional and legislative, and reimburse states for the cost of providing services to undocumented immigrants; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and to each member of the Virginia congressional delegation in order that they may be apprised of the sentiment of the General Assembly of Virginia.