Bob Orr says the state should pressure the federal government on illegal immigration.
In a proposal released today, the Republican gubernatorial candidate calls for the state to establish an identification process for legal residents, track state spending on illegal immigrants, aggresively pursue reimbursement and possibly even sue the federal government.
"As governor, I'm going to do all I can to ensure that if the Federal Government continues to shirk its legal obligation to secure our borders and deport those here illegally, then at least our taxpayers are not going to continue paying for it," he said in a statement.
The plan was a major step for Orr on the issue of illegal immigration. At a January debate, he was the only Republican candidate to blame industry, not the government, for the problem, and he has been less vocal about immigration than some of his opponents.
In the plan, Orr called for the state Division of Motor Vehicles to issue driver's licenses and state ID only to legal residents; the Department of Public Instruction, public hospitals and jails to document spending on illegal immigrants; the state Department of Revenue to estimate tax revenue from illegal immigrants and the federal government to reimburse those costs.
If that fails, he said he would direct the state attorney general to file a lawsuit against the federal government.
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Re: Orr's illegal immigration plan
Orr's accountancy plan is interesting.
I'd like to know what he would he do, for instance, if, after totaling up all the direct costs of illegal immigrants and then subtracting that from the estimate of the taxes and fees paid by illegals, he finds a surplus of revenue?
Not saying it's going to happen, but what would he do?