Eye On Boise

Kobach: ‘Idaho is going to fall somewhere on the spectrum’

Posted by Betsy

March 8, 2010 7:56 a.m. • 6 comments

Kris Kobach, a law professor and former counsel to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, told the Senate State Affairs Committee that there are eight areas of the law within which states can constitutionally take action against illegal immigration, and Arizona is the state that’s done the most within those areas, whereas California has done the least. The consequences, Kobach said, are clear in “California’s budget situation … a huge percentage of that budget is attributable directly or indirectly to … illegal immigrants.”

Sen. Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, then asked Kobach, “Are you suggesting to us that because of the actions the state of Arizona has taken, that consequently they’re in solvent fiscal shape?” “Well, no,” Kobach responded, noting that there are other factors at play in states’ fiscal situations as well. Arizona is the state that this year sold its state Capitol and an array of other state buildings through a lease-back deal designed to generate cash to cope with its budget crisis.

Kobach said he merely was making the point that there’s a spectrum of states on action against illegal immigration. “Idaho is going to fall somewhere on the spectrum, and whether you choose to pass this or not is up to you,” he said.

He also said he assisted Arizona in drafting and then defending a state law requiring all employers to use the e-Verify system to verify employees’ immigration status, and helped that state successfully defend the law in federal court. SB 1303 would make use of that system mandatory for Idaho employers.

Six comments on this post so far. Add yours!

palousian on March 08 at 8:05 a.m.
Good questioning, Sen. Davis!
tinybobidaho on March 08 at 8:33 a.m.
Bart Davis isn’t worried about his son. If these legislators weren’t in bed with the businesses who hire illegal aliens, they wouldn’t have such a problem with it. If they don’t pass this bill, they need to be booted from office and get somebody in there to represent the people of Idaho instead of the illegal aliens who are stealing jobs here.
MountainGoat on March 08 at 8:51 a.m.
Lol… stealing jobs. That’s hilarious…

Couldn’t be that legislators believe the federal government should be enforcing immigration law and the state of Idaho has no business mandating that on employers or charging the taxpayer to implement and enforce such a mandate. Nah, that would make too much sense.
WildWest on March 08 at 9:40 a.m.
What has become of common sense in humanity?

What we are seeing happen in this committee at the Idaho’s statehouse is nothing different than the beginnings of the rise of NAZI Germany and the destruction of Germany freedoms.

Idaho’s GOP majority legislators are legitimizing this racist Kobach’s agenda and only strengthening the extreme ideology of conservative intolerance and fear that blames specific races of people for threatening the existence of white people.

Kobach’s solution; eliminate the freedoms and require proof of race!

Is Kobach really expressing the values of Idaho and our families if so then I am very concern about the future of this state. Idaho has become Alabama of the 1960’s

The real world facts do not match the political rhetoric, but these
incited white people! are blind to facts.
AmazingGrace on March 08 at 10:11 a.m.
Wake up and get involved. 25 million illegal aliens, and they are the cheap labor that too many businesses are using for that simple reason. Cheap labor, paying off the books, avoiding taxes, lowering wages, lost jobs for teens, college students, low skilled, and senior Americans, and illegal aliens are stealing those jobs through identity theft and fraud. Employers are breaking the law and expecting taxpayers to pay for their free services and crimes.

15 million Americans without jobs, and the need for mandated E Verify is apparent. No honest politician, lawmaker would vote against E Verify unless they were protecting their donors, or for some other questionable reason. We need E Verify to begin the screening.
AmazingGrace on March 08 at 10:22 a.m.
The racist garbage reprinted. Americans are sick of that. Go to youtube and NumbersUSA, and watch the new video of Leo Alexander, DC Mayoral Candidate. He is black, he is angry about the “illegal , foreign workforce” present in the United States. His advice to the white woman confronting him is to “go follow them back to their countries and lead a revolution there. ” Good advice to special interests such as La Raza, SPLC, SEIU, ACORN, etc. Go follow them back to their own nations. Americans want enforcement, period. Illegal aliens hurt blacks and hispanics, who are citizens, or legally present.

E Verify now.