Larry Halloran on HB2372 interview on KAKE
What we DIDN’t see… the good stuff hit the cutting room floor so they could EMPHASIZE “the color of one’s skin” which is NO where to be found in the Bill.
www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/measures/hb2372/
Larry’s Testimony in Support of HB 2372
Testimony of Larry Halloran in support of HB 2372;
Chairman Kinzer and Members of the House Judiciary Committee,
We ask for your support of HB 2372; An Act concerning immigration; requiring verification of employment eligibility and making other amendments concerning immigration.
The fundamental question today is not illegal immigration itself. If we are a nation of laws and are faithful to our obligations as citizens or legislators then we will rightfully conclude that the rule of law is the bedrock foundation of our society and passage of this legislation should require little debate.
I would not dispute that employer and citizen alike have found the blind eye beneficial to their pocket book but financial gain, open borders or humanitarian compassion are not acceptable substitutes for the rule of law. Yesterdays benefit (however perceived) is today’s liability as our citizens find themselves struggling to meet the increased burden of illegal immigration on our society that cannot be measured in financial terms alone.
The blessings and benefits of America are bountiful. But, if they are to be preserved for our posterity and those seeking the benefit of citizenship they must be secured by principled adherence to our state and federal Constitutions.
Illegal immigration is a festering cancer that damages both our society and those unlawfully seeking employment. It creates the necessity for a second society operating under the radar that inhibits the necessary assimilation of new immigrants into the America family. We are no longer concerned with a few thousand illegal immigrants that could be easily absorbed but rather tens of millions that now tax the limits of our social networks. It is past time for the half measured approaches, nod and wink policies and felonious excuses of citizen, employer and legislator alike related to the employment eligibility of illegal immigrants are put to rest. It is time that a lawful approach to employment eligibility verification becomes the rule for all employers and the accepted social norm for all citizens. Of even greater importance is that you, the citizen legislator, honor your oath of office and uphold the rule of law.
Our Founders studied the laws and customs of many nations (both failed and existing) and took from them guidance for our Constitution that best protected a free people and society. For over 200 years, our Constitution has served as the legal binder for our citizens and those wishing to assimilate into a free society. Today, many seek to dilute the authority of our Constitution through substitution of unlawful privileges that in essence establish an equal but separate society within our borders. A society that stands in stark contrast and in opposition to the fundamental necessity of assimilation at the expense of individual liberties guaranteed to all by our Constitution. Such practices serve to disadvantage the citizens and legal immigrants that play by the rules and adhere to our laws by granting unearned favor to the illegal immigrant.
Surely, we are all aware of the inequities, consequences and unquestionable failures of equal but separate jurisprudence practiced at times within our own society. To turn a blind eye or foster such practices is treasonous to our founding principles, documents and the faith of those who gave all to defend and preserve the greatest grant of freedom ever known to man; America.
The challenges before us in preserving the free society and America are indeed great but do include a provision for national suicide. Tolerance does not beget equal but separate in a free society but instead requires assimilation through shared core values and equal application of the laws
Thank you for your favorable support of HB 2372, your service and the defense of freedom for all.
Respectfully,
Larry Halloran, Chairman
Wichita – South Central KS 912 Group
Mulvane, KS 67110
Testimony of Lana Reed in Support of HB 2372
Testimony
Of
Lana Reed
Provided Pursuant to
K.S.A. 75-2973
Kansas Whistleblower Act
On The
HB 2372
Before the
House Judiciary Committee
“Under the current SRS system Kansas taxpayers are having millions of dollars stolen from them through fraud. Perhaps worse Kansas citizens, who are footing the bill, are being denied benefits that illegal aliens are approved for. The SRS system works for the illegal aliens and the illegal aliens know how to work the system….”
p.12
Representative Lance Kinzer, Chairman
Thursday, March 10, 2011, 3:30 p.m.
785-296-7692
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.
Fraud in the Kansas SRS System..
Hiding Illegal Aliens and Fraud.
Types of Fraud.
Fake Documents.
Legitimate SSNs.
Multiple Identities.
Living the Good Life.
Is it really the good Life?.
Who is benefiting from this illegal labor?.
Cost for Fake Documents.
Proration: Special Treatment of Illegal Aliens Over Kansas Citizens.
Three Strikes You’re Out.
Over Whelming the System..
Don’t Rock the Boat.
Conclusion.
Executive Summary
I was employed by the Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) for two and ½ years. During that time I witnessed overwhelming levels of fraud and corruption resulting in the waste of millions of tax payer dollars. Most the fraud was conducted pursuant to policies of the SRS which required employees to turn a blind eye to fraud and abuse of the welfare system in a magnitude of millions of dollars.
The policies in use at the SRS discriminated against Kansas citizens and law abiding immigrants in favor illegal aliens. Over this period of time the “Proration” policy, which provided benefits to illegal aliens that were denied to citizens and legal immigrants, just for Johnson and Wyandotte
Counties, cost taxpayers $2,276,544.00 annually. On a daily basis I witnessed the use of fraudulent documents as well as the fraudulent use of multiple social security numbers not yet “assigned” to an individual.
The frontline SRS case workers are being overwhelmed by the increase of usage of the system by illegals aliens. When I started my case load was suppose to be 130. It actually was more in the range of 160. By the time I left it had increased to over 260 or a 63% increase. This was in spite of the fact the bilingual caseworkers had increased from two, me and one in Wyandotte, to six, a 400% increase, by the time I left the SRS.
As the performance standards remained the same over this two and one half year period the only way to maintain the required performance numbers was to sacrifice the fraud detection and verification procedures. This meant that the fraud detection and verification would have to be minimized or skipped altogether or the caseworker could not meet achieve the number of cases they were required to process (approve).
Ninety-Nine percent (99%) of my families were illegal aliens with citizen children. Less than 10 families had legal permanent residence. Virtually all of whom used fraudulent documents or fraudulently used documents to support their application for assistance.
Fraud in the Kansas SRS System
Witness Background
I was employed as a bilingual Human Service Specialist at theSocial and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) assigned to the Johnson County Kansas office in Overland Park, KS from 7/2008 to 10/2010. I determined eligibility for food assistance, TANF (Welfare), and Medicaid/Medicare/ SOBRA. (SOBRAS are emergency medical which mainly consisted of primarily paying 100% for illegal alien labor and delivery, and emergency services such as gall stones, heart attacks etc.) I also determined eligibility to pay for child care for the citizen children so the illegal alien parents could work illegally.
Hiding Illegal Aliens and Fraud
In the SRS system illegal aliens were coded as “DF” (fraud) prior to 1997. This code counted their full gross income in determining benefits. In an explanation to me on why we now prorate income instead of counting the full gross like citizens for Food Assistance, I was told the federal government did not allow coding permanent residence that hadn’t been here 5 years as DF (fraud) [i] since they were here legally. So instead of using “DF” for illegal aliens and coding “DI” for permanent residents we had to begin using a “DI”[ii] code for both. [iii]
Types of Fraud
Fake Documents
Of my cases eighty three per cent (83%) had false Social Security Numbers (SSN) a majority of which had not yet been” issued by the Social Security Administration”. The remaining 17% were paid in cash which we had to use written statements on the amount. There was no way of proving exactly how much money they were making. We had to accept a customer statement that they had no bank account or were paid in cash as true. My former clients would sometime have more than 2 or 3 social security cards but only report one for benefits so they wouldn’t go over the gross limit. Right before I left in October, in an exact incident as this one, I was told to call it “client error” when I encountered it instead of prosecuting it as fraud. Even after we spent tax dollars having an investigator find this person working at two jobs and had an open and shut case.
Upon doing the required SSN check on SWSS (Soc Securities database) the SSNs would come up as “impossible”, “surnames” don’t match, no Bendex etc. But mostly they would come back with no “return message at all”.
When finding multiple SSNs for one individual I would enter that information in the alias screen with all the names, birth dates and SSNs they use. I do not have a number at this time for how many of my caseload used multiple SSNs, but that can be obtained from SRS reports. The number is significant. Most caseworkers didn’t have time or even knew how to put that info in the computer system (It is a cumbersome system from 1987) so most of these false SSNs are hard copy and buried in the files.
I also ran SAVE[iv] on Permanent Residents cards. One instance the man in the waiting room had a woman’s card. He had superimposed his photo. He readily admitted it was fake and per policy I used it for the mandatory photo ID. It is a standard practice to request all false ids and socials to determine wages in order to determine eligibility.
On occasion I would see a fake driver’s license, however due to the hologram that is difficult to fake. And it wouldn’t matter anyway because I was required to use it for photo ID.
Most volunteer the documents are fake and they say the SSN (“No es bueno” It isn’t good) They know and have been coached that the federal law doesn’t allow a social worker to report their fake documents or status to immigration. The policy made a caseworker complicit in their illegal activity.
Legitimate SSNs
Some had “legitimate” SSNs showing wages of people in other States which clearly indicates identity theft. This was few and far between. When doing wage verifications using the “Work number” which indicates where in the US the given SSN showed wages. I would see a person’s wages from another State. I was told to disregard those and process anyway on the check stubs they gave me. The Client stated they weren’t a private investigator in Texas, an engineer, an insurance salesmen etc. so those wages were not used in determining benefits. We had to accept the word of someone committing identity fraud as truth.
Multiple Identities
I spent 30 minutes with the Olathe Police Dept. trying to verify if an absent parent was really absent and on the list for deportation. He had 7 names and 3 different birthdates. I was assured that what he was convicted for he would definitely be deported. The wage earner was indeed absent.
I had an illegal alien parent molest their 13 year old child. The child was taken away and could only return if the parent wasn’t in the home. The parent skipped town and now they probably have another name in another State starting another family where the abuse can continue.
It was very difficult to determine who was in the lobby to see me because our receptionists didn’t speak Spanish and the name they were giving on their “ID” was not the name they gave us on their account. This happened on a daily basis. I accumulated 150 Instant messages with the front desk in a 6th month period of me going to the lobby for people that were not in my caseload, or to find out who they were and what they wanted. Per policy I had to be in the lobby within 15 minutes to meet customer service expectations even though most came without an appointment. They could be using their mother’s last name, their father’s last name or another name entirely. The IDs again didn’t match what was in our system. Sometimes IDs didn’t match the birthdates. I gave these instant messages to my management through the grievance procedure with KOSE because to continue to go to the lobby and take care of my increasing caseload was getting very challenging and impossible to do well. It is difficult to run the “look ups” and “checks” when I had to run to the lobby for anyone who showed up with no appointment.
If a citizen came in with that many aliases or giving a different name than was on their ID they would be investigated for fraud or arrested.
Living the Good Life
When confronting a client about their bank statement showing Southwest Airline tickets and a balance higher than $2000, which is the maximum an applicant to have to receive benefits per policy, they said they kept the family’s money in their bank account, it wasn’t all theirs. Since we take an “average” I had to approve their application.
At their interim review they dutifully kept it low but they had $150 shoes bought on PayPal. Their minimum was within the guidelines they was approved.
One of my permanent resident’s families was actually convicted for fraud with a $16,000 overpayment. They originally indicated $0 income, no bank accounts. We have to take “client statement” as true. They applied and were approved for everything. Food Assistance, TANF, Medicaid, Child Care. They should never have been approved.
They owned a duplex part of which was rented out in Wyandotte County. They lived in Johnson County in a home paid for by their family members. That duplex was unreported income. They were fraudulently receiving Social Security money from a family member who died in Central America. Coroners in other countries do not have to report deaths to social security.
The only reason it was found out, was because I sent the investigator out to check household composition for a suspected absent parent wage earner in the home. The illegal “lover” absent parent was there with their mutual child. The spouse filed for divorce and the financial information became public record which our fraud dept used to prosecute the fraud and the overpayment.
The above relates to an individual, the term “they” is for gender masking.
The only way the State of KS can recoup these huge overpayments is to hope they apply for assistance again so we can deduct a percentage out of their benefits dollars. In other words they make payments on their prior fraud. The recoupment rate on fraud on my caseload otherwise is very low. The policy to recoup after giving money out in “error” costs the State of KS in the millions. With caseloads increasing, a caseworker doesn’t have time to do “look ups”. Additionally requesting fraud investigation were frowned on in my last couple of months at SRS for lack of investigators on both the English Caseloads and Spanish speaking caseloads.
Is it really the good Life?
80% of my caseload suffered at some point with abuse and domestic violence. The husband can beat them “What are they going to do call the police and get deported?” Some don’t know how to drive or speak enough English to get around. They just endure the abuse. Employers and Landlord can and do abuse them. Again… “What are they going to do call the police and get deported?” To not enforce our laws is to allow exploitation of people who have made themselves vulnerable to bullies, thugs and crooks. As parents we teach our children that rules are there for a reason and to protect us.
I had a client with 6 citizen children that had a lump in her breast. Even if the Komen foundation could give her a free mammogram who would pay for the expensive cancer treatments? Is it better to watch her die with no treatment or have those 6 children parceled out in the system as wards of the State when they dies? I had a client who gave birth naturally in Mexico no problems, turned out they discovered they was allergic to latex while giving birth here. They coded. The State of KS paid for Labor and Delivery under SOBRA but the hospital had to eat the cost for 3 months in a coma. Who is going to pay for her ongoing therapy?
One client was dragged 20 feet by a tractor. Who pays for his external colon? Is that a medical emergency covered under SOBRA? The Workman’s comp didn’t want to pay because. “How were they certain it was from the tractor accident?
If a citizen gives birth or has a medical emergency without insurance they are 100% responsible for their hospital bills. There is no SOBRA for citizens. Citizens go bankrupt paying medical and hospital bills. That is a citizen’s only choice.
Who is benefiting from this illegal labor?
I naively asked one of my clients why they didn’t come in legally. They told me, “No le dan visas a gente como nosotros”. They don’t give visas to people like us. We don’t have land or money. They is right. We would consider them risks to being wards of the State. They would wind up at SRS. And they would have to pass a test in English to become citizens. How can they do that if they can’t read or write English or Spanish?
I asked her how much it cost to get across the border they said $2000 per person. If you believe like I do that 30,000,000 people are here illegally that is 60 billion dollars. So you can get perspective, that dollar amount is equivalent to the GNP of the country of Bolivia. If you believe our official government figures of 9-12 million, then that is still 24 billion dollars in human trafficking. Who is benefiting from illegal labor because it isn’t the citizen’s of the United States.
And you have to ask how does a person who can’t read or write pay $2000 per person.
Cost for Fake Documents
Applicants have told me they can get a false SSN for $50.00 and a false Passport or Permanent Resident card for $500-1000. I did not see false passports however I was told that was the going rate. When I asked them how they knew they were not buying someone else’s number they told me they had a “maquinita” a machine that showed it wasn’t being used by someone else. And they were right. What are the odds that a caseload of 265 families, that the majority of those using false social security numbers are also unassigned? In other words this is not”guessing” or using random numbers.
Proration: Special Treatment of Illegal Aliens Over Kansas Citizens
Under United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations the states have the option to base welfare benefits (for food assistance) illegal aliens on Gross Income, which is the method used for U.S. citizens, or to “Prorate” income of the illegal aliens. Kansas has chosen the Proration option. I was told these decisions are bureaucratic they are not done by legislation.
The illegal alien proration for food assistance makes illegal aliens with citizen children eligible for food while citizens with the same amount of income and household composition (number of people in the household) are denied such benefits. There is no incentive to become a permanent resident, if they did they would fall under the same rule as citizens and not have their income prorated causing them to exceed the income limit for food assistance.
There is no illegal alien proration for citizens and someone with legal status. We always count the full income for citizens and permanent residents who have been here for more than 5 yrs. There were incidents where permanent residents would receive food assistance up until they reached their five years then they had to be told they were now over income because they had legal status here. Put yourself in the caseworker’s shoes while trying to explain that.
It was standard policy to take falsified documents, permanent resident cards, as long as the ID had a picture matching the client. Mostly I used their countries’ Voter ID or their country’s driver’s license for photo ID. Although not required for expedite, I always asked for a birth certificate and SSN of citizen children for ID. In fact it was important to keep track of all the socials they used so we could determine benefits for them.
I was officially trained to do look ups on all children’s social security numbers as well to see if there were any wages on them. I had 3 year olds flipping burgers etc. Mostly I had people with multiple socials. This made it really difficult to determine exact gross income. This fact and the illegal alien proration for food assistance made “denying” for over income very rare. In fact most of my day was spent approving applications and reviews. I rarely denied anyone.
Under the proration method illegal alien households consistently receive benefits that households of Kansas citizens are denied . Under the proration method the ratio of legal to illegal members of the household is used to reduce the gross monthly income which determines benefit eligibly and amounts.
A household comprised of one illegal alien mother with a child born in the United States, who are considered a U.S. citizen, the proration is 50% so the gross income of the household is reduced by 50% for purposes of determining if the household is eligible for food assistance and how much.
100% of the gross income of households comprised of only U.S. citizens is considered in determining benefits. This has the effect of excluding the U.S. citizen households for benefits.
Also under the USDA regulation if the applicant cannot prove or refuses to prove their status i.e., provide documents of such, they are considered illegal aliens. This encourages citizens to lie about their status and discourages illegal aliens from trying to obtain a legal status as it would exclude them from or reduce their welfare benefits.
TAF grants[v] are also prorated for illegal aliens but never for citizens. Although TANF money is not available to illegal aliens, it is allocated to them through the proration of the TANF grants which increases the benefits to the citizen children. Thus allocating money to illegal aliens that is illegal for them to have to boost benefits to the household.
Thirty per cent (30%) of my cases were over the gross income limit for food assistance The proration allowed them to receive the benefit while citizens of equal household composition would be denied. I came up with an approximate cost of this policy and gave it to my manager in 2009. The cost for my cases and the other three bilingual case workers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties amounted to approximately $2,276,544.00 annually in benefits that if they were citizens would never have been issued at all. When I told my boss that nationally this could equate to billions of dollars he jokingly replied “is that all?” The proration still exists. Nothing was done about it. He said “Call my congressmen”. Which is what I have been doing for the last 2 years.
Three Strikes You’re Out
The policy is 3 frauds and no more assistance. What this equates for citizen families is the wage earners no longer get assistance from the State of KS but their eligible children still do. Each time they are convicted of fraud their benefits cease for a period of time. There is no punishment for illegal alienfraud because the proration already is designed to exclude part of the wage earners income. However, when coded DF the system counts all the income and excludes the adults. The illegal alien family does not really experience any financial difference. They can and do get another social reapply for food assistance with less income and we are required to approve their application if they have citizen children. The attitude became why spend tax dollars to send an investigator out when they are going to get benefits anyway? The policy should not be 3 strikes you are out but one and you are done…
Over Whelming the System
When I started with the SRS in 2008 I was the only bilingual worker for the Overland Park SRS office. By the time I left in 2010 SRS had added a total of three bilingual workers and Wyandotte County was up to three as well. This was a 500% increase in less than three years.
This system punished the diligent employee who wanted to not only do their job right but do the right thing. Our processing requirement was to have more than 93% of the food assistance applicants correctly processed in thirty days. This should be enough time to run checks and verify wages etc. However, due to the high attrition (my team completely turned over 100% from 2 years ag0) constant reassigning of cases, the caseloads went beyond burdensome making maintaining “statistics” for performance based evaluations and doing “fraud” checks next to impossible. As a result most of the applicants were not properly checked. Even if I sent out the investigator and found another wage earner, the proration guaranteed that the income wouldn’t be all counted and after the rent deduction, the standard utility deduction etc the family would be approved anyway.
When I first started I had a cap of eight new applicants per week. The last year they uncapped me and I had to take whoever walked in the door. If 8 walked in one day (and they did) I had to take them. Originally I was told my caseload would be 130. My caseload hovered around 160 when I was capped. Uncapped my caseload went to over 260, almost a 63% increase in cases. Of course the performance standard was not changed. And, things only became worse.
The last months I worked for SRS so many English Caseworkers were leaving that I was required to take English cases. English workers had had enough of the caseloads, high expectations and the fraud and were leaving in record numbers. This was very stressful since I was only trained on the illegal aliens with citizen children and I was not accustomed to Work Programs for citizens receiving benefits.
Citizens are required to comply with work programs to get TANF. My citizen children’s parents (illegal aliens) who received TANF were not required to do work programs. I rarely had clients on TANF. Over 95% of my caseload was working compared to 40% unemployed in the English Citizen Caseload. The illegal alien proration for food assistance allowed two wage earners to work and still get benefits. My clients didn’t need vehicle money, job coaching, interview clothes etc to get a job. The only time they didn’t have a job was in the winter when landscaping/construction was down. When the weather got warmer they would immediately get off TANF and return to only food assistance and child care for benefits so they could continue to work illegally. Getting jobs was no problem for my caseload that was their objective when they crossed the border.
In essence the SRS subsidized the wages of the illegal aliens, allowing them to get by on a reduced wage, and otherwise help them to work illegally in this country at the expense of taxpayers and citizens who could not afford to work at the same wage without the government subsidy.
Don’t Rock the Boat
I felt because I started questioning the Illegal Alien proration, I got a target on my back. Most caseworkers didn’t want me to rock the boat they were trying to get to retirement or become vested. But secretly the caseworkers hoped my Union grievances on the lobby policy would succeed since they were hopelessly overloaded. The lobby policy, was a customer service expectation of getting out to the lobby within 15 minutes of a client coming in whether they had an appointment with us or not. This seriously ate into the “look up and verify” procedure time. Making fraud easier to miss.
The caseworkers in SRS are given very little respect by management or the clients. It is a thankless job. I admire those State employees. It is unbelievable what they have to endure in order to make a living. It is because management did not listen to my protests on the proration and the fraud that I joined the Union where I was guaranteed my grievances could be documented and heard.
Management doesn’t listen to workers suggestions because they don’t respect the workers. It is of utmost importance to relay that I felt I was required to go along with fraud in order to keep my job there. Management certainly didn’t listen to what I was saying or take it seriously and they denied every grievance and especially didn’t listen to KOSE (State Employee Union) grievances. If you don’t listen then how are you going to fix a problem? At some point one realizes SRS management did not want to fix the problem at all.
Conclusion
Under the current SRS system Kansas taxpayers are having millions of dollars stolen from them through fraud. Perhaps worse Kansas citizens, who are footing the bill, are being denied benefits and assistance. The SS system works for the illegal aliens and the illegal aliens know how to work the system.
Under the SRS system Kansans were treated as second class citizens in their own country by the government that was supposed to be working for them and was spending their money. SRS denied citizens benefits that were readily provide to illegal aliens. Citizens were punished for fraud but illegal aliens were not affected by the “punishment” with the current policies in place. Even the law abiding legal immigrants were put at a disadvantage compared to the illegal aliens. A system that rewards illegal activity only begets more illegal activity.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lana Reed
[i] Wage earning aliens who are here legally as permanent residence do not get benefits under federal for five years. However the children get benefits whether they are legal are not. They get a proration (DI)
[ii] DI means
[iii] DI is also used for citizens who are under a work penalty in TANF (welfare). Again wage earners are coded DI, but the children still get benefits.
[iv] SAVE is a system to verify the validity of a permanent residence card. (Immigration/Homeland Security)
SRS Gives Preference to Illegal Aliens over Kansas Citizens;
Has Policy to Ignore Fraud Cost Taxpayers Millions?
SRS Gives Preference to Illegal Aliens over Kansas Citizens;
Has Policy to Ignore Fraud Cost Taxpayers Millions?
By Richard Fry
I attended the hearing yesterday (3/10/11) on the Kansas omnibus “immigration” bill HB2372. This bill was largely drafted by current Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The bill includes an Arizona SB1070 type provision, tightens up the providing of benefits to illegal aliens, implements E-verify for state contractors and holds dishonest and unfair businesses accountable for “recklessly” violating the law by hiring illegal aliens.
As usual the supporters of the bill were outnumbered. The proponent conferees (those giving “testimony”) were outnumbered 3 to 1 and the attendees at least 2 to 1. Of course many of the opponent conferees and attendees were lobbyist or representatives of trade groups. It was disappointing to have the Unified Government of Wyandotte County represented by a paid lobbyist.
Citizens as Props
Conservatives Outnumbered Again
As usual there was speculation as to why the supporters of progressive principles (global citizens and open borders) were able to outnumber those who stood for the rule of law; Constitutional governance and fiscal conservatism were once again out numbers. Part of the problem was the very late notice of when the hearing would be held. Most only received notice of the hearing on Tuesday or Wednesday. Not much notice if you are trying to reshuffle your work scheduled or arranging to have your kids picked up from school. Although this was a particularly short notice the hearings are almost always too short to accommodate the average citizen. Sometimes it feels as if we “conservatives” are still the props in the conservative politicians’ play rather than the main character with our politicians in a supporting role, as it should be.
As with most factors relating to these types of issues there is a double standard anyway. In the 2010 session there were dozens of conferees supporting the Tenth Amendment Resolution (TAR) and only one conferee who testified against it. Likewise, of the over 500 attendees I did not see one person opposed to the TAR. However, at every opportunity the committee chairman, Tim Owens, mentioned that those present were the outspoken voices (loud mouths) for the measure but that there were many silent voices that opposed it and they, the politicians, had to represent the silent voices as well. Of course I have never heard Senator Owens plea for the “silent” voices before and certainly not for a conservative cause.
SRS gives preference to Illegal Aliens over Citizens and Approves of Fraud
An interesting development was the testimony of a former SRS caseworker who testified about the SRS policy to ignore fraud and to discriminate against citizens in favor of illegal aliens in awarding benefits. In determining eligibility for benefit the SRS considers the entire gross wages of the household, at least for citizens. Apparently
Kansas has adopted an OPTION for illegal aliens whereby they “prorate” some of the income the illegal alien (make illegally) to the illegal aliens and some to the “citizen” kids of the illegals. They only count the income allocated to the kids as the household income thereby reducing the gross income and making some illegal households eligible for benefits when a citizens household would be denied benefits and giving the illegal household more benefits that a citizen’s household with the same “gross” gross income and the same number of people in the household. This is clearly preferential treatment for illegal aliens over U.S. citizens and law abiding immigrants. The witness estimated that this “proration” costs Kansas taxpayers over 2.7 million dollars per year just in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
The witness noted that 83% of their caseload had false Social Security Numbers (SSN) and a majority of these had “unassigned” SSNs i.e., valid SSNs that had not yet been assign to an individual by the Social Security Administration. This sounds like an inside job to me. As a matter of SRS policy the case workers had to accept fraudulent documents and were required to code fraud (DF) by illegals as noncompliance with SRS internal requirements for those seeking employment (DI). Also whereas citizens caught in fraud were prosecuted and suffered a loss of benefits the illegals really suffered no real loss of benefits. And it goes on and on.
When the caseworker brought these issues to management they showed no concern and no changes were made. Perhaps there wasn’t any concern because it was a waste of your money, my fellow citizens, not “management’s”. I don’t want those types of people working for me.
The Usual Suspects
Of course the lobbyist or other representatives of the contractors and builders association, the hotel and entertainment industries, the agricultural industry including the ranchers were well represented and the various Chambers of Commerce. Yes representatives of those who are widely known to be the biggest users and abusers of illegal aliens.
It was the same old story: e-verify will cost too much to implement and maintain (evidence shows otherwise), it will subject business to unfair scrutiny and fines and this is a matter for Congress. First, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that immigration is limited to who gets into the country, under what conditions and who and how they leave. Immigration authority does not extend to regulation and / or licensing of business, employer – employee relations, who drives, who has to pay what tuition etc. these are powers left to the states under their general police power. So no it is not a federal matter. I do not know why no one challenges these progressive folks on this assertion.
Second, in the 1982 case of Pyler v Texas the Supreme Court noted that Congress had been neglecting the immigration issue for thirty years. That has been almost thirty years ago, so Congress has neglected the illegal alien problem for almost sixty (60) years. In 1986 when the first Amnesty was given to illegals (there have been at least six since then) the estimated population was about 3.4 million. Now most experts agree it is between twenty and thirty million. Reality check! Congress is not going to address this problem unless forced to.
Third, it’s unfair to honest businesses and their employees to allow the unscrupulous businesses to get an unfair advantage by using illegal aliens as their labor force. I doubt if there are any honest companies in the house framing, roofing and sheet rocking businesses anymore. Other industries are under attack.
Fourth, they do not address all the other costs we citizens have to endure because of the presence of illegal aliens. Many of the costs are not financial. What cost do you put on the deterioration of our society and culture due to the breakdown of the rule of law, the almost 90,000 deaths here of our fellow citizens, and the stealth implementation of Spanish as our second language.
Conclusion
Once again a lot of our public servants are not listening to what “We the People” want. They are trying to do what they think is best for us, the world or who knows what else. The bottom line is we citizens are tired of being treated as a second class citizen in our own state and country and having to foot the bill to boot.
The reason we have not made more progress with our efforts to take back control of our government is not enough Americans are informed or involved. There is no longer a good reason for them to not be getting better informed and more involved. There are way too many people ringing the warning bell on what is going on to not invoke sideliners duty to investigate for themselves. At this point they should be considered greedy, lazy or plain un-American. Perhaps we should start directing some of our heat their way.
Second, we continue to play the other side’s game. Most of us want to continue to be politically correct and excessively civil. Some are afraid if we get too assertive we will be called an angry mob, kooks, Astor-turf, tea baggers, racist, and right- wing extremist and so on and so forth. Wake up they are already doing that.
Some say if we get too assertive with our politicians they will not help us or do what we ask. Wake up! Most of them are not doing anything for us now. Even Christ displayed some good ole righteous indignation on occasion and I think we should as well.
“Cry Me A Rio Grande – Kansas”
Although this article was written in 2010, little has changed with regard to the opposition to HB 2372 this year, it is just a different day at the same old place and it was the Senate that killed SB 458 two years before SB 1070 was introduced in Arizona.
Will the Kansas House now fold to Big Business and Special Interest groups that do not have the interest of Kansas Citizens at heart?
Larry
From the NOlathe Blog
By: Ken Dunwoody
http://nolathe.net/2010/09/08/cry-me-a-rio-grande-kansas/
Cry Me A Rio Grande Kansas!
September 8, 2010 by nolathe
During the last several months, I can not think of one day when I turned on the news that the Arizona Immigration Law SB-1070 requiring enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws wasn’t in play somewhere. A Time Capsule might look like this:
? Localized demonstrations of illegals demanding the same rights as “other citizens”
? Demonstrators denigrating the U.S. Flag and raising the Mexican National Flag
? Boycotts of Arizona business and activities (even by schools)
? Support for SB-1070 from other States (except Kansas)
? President of Mexico files protest of discrimination
? U.S. Attorney General files suit against Arizona (SB-1070)
? U.S. Secretary of State complains to United Nations on SB-1070
Even here in Kansas we watched as Co-Author of SB-1070 and candidate for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach invited America’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Olathe.
Following threats of protests the event was moved to a more secure facility in Overland Park and even there experienced protests and a bomb threat.
A ‘State summation’ of the bill reads “The bill would require all state officials, agencies, and personnel to fully comply with and support the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The bill would also require all law enforcement officers to inquire into the citizenship and immigration status of any person arrested for a violation of state law or municipal ordinance, regardless of the person’s national origin, ethnicity, or race. If an arrestee is determined to be an alien, the bill would require the officer to verify if the alien is lawfully present in the U.S. with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and cooperate with any request made by ICE to detain or transfer the alien to the custody of the federal government. The bill would also prohibit any official or agent of a state, county, or city law enforcement agency from being restricted from information regarding any individual or exchanging the information with any other federal, state, or local government agency. Also, the bill would prohibit state, county, or city law enforcement agencies from discouraging officers to ask individuals their citizenship or immigration status.”
So what does all this have to do with Kansas and why would I chose to write about it again as I have clearly shown in previous postings that our Kansas elected government is very pro-illegal immigration? Well, once again a reader of NOlathe has supplied some great material to pursue but please first read these two posts as preparation:
1. http://nolathe.net/2010/02/17/kansas-senate-funds-illegal-immigration/
2. http://nolathe.net/2010/02/18/topeka-the-ultimate-one-party-town/
Let’s start with the ‘State summation’ above, it was written by Duane A. Goossen, Kansas Director of the Budget on February 27, 2008 regarding Kansas SB-458.
http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2008/458.pdf Huh? I thought we were talking about illegal immigration enforcement in Arizona? How did we end up here? Well, two years before Kris Kobach co-authored Arizona SB-1070 he co-authored Kansas SB-458.
Wait until you see who testified in opposition of Kansas SB-458
http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/458.pdf I think one could easily predict “lawn care”, “construction”, “law firm” companies and any organization with Hispanic in the title to be listed in opposition. Take a look-
Verbal Testimony- Opposing SB458
1. Wichita Independent Business Association, President and Kansas Independent Business Coalition President, Tim Witsman. 445 N. Waco Street, Wichita, KS 67202
2. Artistic Designs Lawn and Landscape Inc. HR Manager, Nestor Leon. PO Box 860576, Shawnee, Kansas, 66286. 913-888-7320
3. Catholic Diocese of Dodge City, Sister Gemma Doll
4. Hermes Company, Inc. Dalton Hermes, owner
5. Julie Frady
6. Kansas Board of Regents, Reginald L. Robinson, President, and CEO. 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520, Topeka, KS 66612. 785-296-3421
7. Kansas Catholic Conference, Arch Bishop Joseph F. Naumann, D.D, 6301 Antioch, Merriam, KS 66202. 913-722-6633
8. Kansas Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO, Amy Blankenbiller. 835 SW Topeka, Blvd, Topeka, KS, 66612. 785-357-6321
9. Kansas Farm Bureau, Terry D. Holdren, National Director
10. Kansas Grain and Feed Assoc. Duane Simpson, CEO/Vice President. 816 SW Tyler, Suite 100, Topeka, KS, 66612. 785-234-0461
11. Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Assoc. David M. Dayvault, President, Abercrombie Energy, LLC. CFO, 800 SW. Jackson St. Suite 1400, Topeka KS, 66612
12. League of Kansas Municipalities, Sandy Jacquot, General Council. 300 SW 8th Ave. Topeka, KS, 66603. 785-354-9565.
13. Johnson County Government, The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners, Steward J. Little, PhD, Little Government Relations. 800 SW Jackson, Suite 914. Topeka, KS 66612. 885-235-8187.
14. MO/KS American Immigration Lawyers Association, Angela J. Furguson, Chairman.
15. Public Health Dept. Director, Joseph M. Connor. 619 Ann Ave. Kansas City, KS, 66101. 913-321-4803.
16. Central Plains Development, Owner, Robert A. Snyder. 3620 Sunnybrook, Wichita, KS. 67210. 316-312-3583.
17. Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church of Topeka, Sister Maria Luz Hernandez
18. Society for Human Resource Management, Director of Governmental Affairs, Michael P. Aitken
19. The Mdivani Law Firm LLC, Emily Haverkamp, Immigration Attorney. 7007 College Blvd. Suite 460, Overland Park, KS. 66212 913-317-6200 [email protected]
20. The Mdivani Law Firm LLC, Mira Mdivani, Immigration Attorney, 7007 College Blvd. Suite 460, Overland Park, KS. 66212. 913-317-6200.
21. Kansas Business Coalition, Ally Devine
Written Testimony- Opposing SB458
1. United Methodist Women of the Kansas East Conference, President Sue Littrell, and Social Action, Susan G. Fowler.
2. Heritage Lawns LTD, Wes Ory, President
3. Wichita Area Builders Association, President/CEO Wess Galyon
4. Artistic designs lawn and landscape, Inc. Duane Lukowsky, PO Box 860576, Shawnee Kansas, 66286, 913-888-7320
5. Associated General Contractors of Kansas, Associate Government Affairs Director, Eric Stafford, 200 SW 33rd Street, Topeka, KS 66611, 785-266-4015
6. Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. HOA Chapter, Jim Kistler, President and CEO, 6950 Squibb Road, Suite 418, Mission, KS, 66202 913-831-2221
7. Dominican Sisters of Great Bend Kansas, Sister Rene Weeks, OP President
8. Grass Roots Inc. President, Lance Shelhammer, II. Olathe KS.
9. Topeka Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Christy Caldwell, Vice President Government Relations. [email protected]
10. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, President and CEO, Carlos Gomez.
11. Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City, MO. 600 E. 103rd St. Kansas City, MO 64131. 816-942-8800
12. Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa, Oklahoma, Paul Kane
13. Social Security Administration, Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Audit, Steve Schaeffer
14. Justice and Peace Center, Sisters of St. Joseph, Sister Esther Pineda, CSJ. Concordia, KS,
15. Kansas Building Industry Assoc, Inc, Executive Director, Chris Wilson
16. Kansas Business Coalition, Amy Blankenbiller
17. Kansas Cooperative Council, Executive Director, Leslie Kaufman, PO Box 1747 Hutchison, KS, 67504. 785-233-4085. [email protected]
18. Kansas Corporation Commission, Mathew A. Spurgin, Litigation Council. 1500 SW Arrowhead Rd, Topeka, KS 66604, 785-271-3100
19. Kansas Families for Education, Executive Director, Kathy Cook. 15941 W. 65th Street, #104 Shawnee KS, 66217. 913-825-0099
20. Kansas Manufactured Housing Assoc. Executive Director, Martha Smith. 3521 SW 5th Street, Topeka, KS 66606, 785-357-5256. [email protected]
21. Kansas Pork Association President/CEO, Tim Stoda. 2601 Farm Bureau Rd. Manhattan, KS, 66502. 785-776-0442. [email protected]
22. Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association, Don Sayler, President/CEO, 3500 N. Rock Road, Building 1300, Wichita, KS, 67226. 800-369-6787.
[email protected]
23. Kansas Society of Human Resource Management – State Council Wichita Society of Human Resource Management, Trinidad Galdean, 8301 E. 21st Street North, Suite 370, Wichita, KS, 67206. 316-609-7900
24. Kansas National Education Association, Mark Desetti. 715 SW 10th Ave. Topeka, KS 66612. 785-232-8271.
25. Kansas League of United Latin American Citizens, Policy and Advocacy Director, Elias L.Garcia.
26. Community Activist, Topeka, Nancy Ochoa.
27. Overland Park Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of Government Relations, J Kent Eckles. 9001 W. 110th Street, Suite 150, Overland Park, KS, 66210. 913-491-3600.
28. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Member of Leadership Team, Sister Linda Roth
29. The Builders Association and Kansas City Chapter, AGC, Director of Governmental Affairs, Dan Morgan. 632 W. 39th Street, Kansas City, MO. 64111. 816-531-4741.
30. The Kansas Contractors Association, 316 SW 33rd Street, Topeka, KS. 66605. 785-266-4152 [email protected] (written)
NEUTRAL/INFORMATIONAL TESTIMONY
1. Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment, Division of Health Cindi Treaster, Director Farm worker, Refugee and Immigrant Health
2. Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, Ed Klumpp (written)
We find that Kansas cities (League of Kansas Municipalities), Johnson County Board of Commissioners, Overland Park Chamber of Commerce and the Social Security Administration are PRO-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION? Okay, it’s still up to a vote, so how did our Kansas Senators vote on SB-458? The Kansas Senate with a Republican Majority must surely respect the Kansas Republican Party Platform and vote in support of SB-458 right?
REPUBLICANS VOTING YES [2011 Update]
Jim Barnett, Emporia.
Les Donovan, Wichita.
Tim Huelskamp, Fowler. [U.S. Congress]
Nick Jordan, Shawnee.
Phil Journey, Haysville.
Ralph Ostmeyer, Grinnell.
Peggy Palmer, Augusta.
Mike Petersen, Wichita.
Dennis Pyle, Hiawatha.
Mark Taddiken, Clifton.
REPUBLICANS VOTING NO [2011 Update]
Barbara Allen, Overland Park.
Pat Apple, Louisburg.
Karin Brownlee, Olathe. [Kansas Secretary of Labor]
Terry Bruce, Hutchinson.
Pete Brungardt, Salina.
Jay Scott Emler, Lindsborg. [Majority Leader]
Carolyn McGinn, Sedgwick.
Steve Morris, Hugoton. (President)
Roger Pine, Lawrence.
Roger Reitz, Manhattan.
Derek Schmidt, Independence. (Majority Leader) [Kansas Attorney General]
Vicki Schmidt, Topeka. (Assistant Majority Leader)
Jean Schodorf, Wichita. (Assistant Majority Whip)
Ruth Teichman, Stafford.
Dwayne Umbarger, Thayer.
John Vratil, Leawood. (Vice President)
Susan Wagle, Wichita.
Dennis Wilson, Overland Park.
David Wysong, Mission Hills.
REPUBLICANS NOT VOTING
Julia Lynn, Olathe.
DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Jim Barone, Frontenac.
Mark Gilstrap, Kansas City.
DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Donald Betts, Wichita.
Marci Francisco, Lawrence.
Greta Goodwin, Winfield.
David Haley, Kansas City.
Anthony Hensley, Topeka.
Laura Kelly, Topeka.
Janis Lee, Kensington.
Chris Steineger, Kansas City.
So to all you Kansans that firmly support Arizona SB-1070 and want to vote those bums out that oppose it, how about we start with Kansas SB-458 and vote our own bums out first! Real Change has to start in our own backyards. Until then, Cry Me a River Kansas! I’ll start with bum-ett Karin Brownlee who’s only contribution on illegal immigration was to make it illegal for illegal aliens to be forced to pay union dues. You think I’m kidding?