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Legislative Update with
Senator Mike Jorgenson
January 29, 2010

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

This morning I presented my immigration legislation to Senate State Affairs. This is the committee that exclusively deals with matters affecting the constitution of Idaho as well as the major policy issues that may affect our great state.

I am pleased to report that my colleagues in the Senate agreed to print this proposed legislation and now it is officially a bill. I have been here before; last year the same committee voted to print my previous bill, but it was never given a hearing afterwards. I very much believe that this year will be different.

In crafting this legislation I was helped in great part by University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor Kris Kobach, a former member of the US Attorney General John Ashcroft's team during the Bush administration. Professor Kobach was instrumental after 9/11 in crafting systems and legislation that helped protect our country from any further attacks under President Bush. He has become an expert in illegal immigration and therefore his assistance in writing this Idaho-specific bill cannot be underestimated. Professor Kobach will fly to Idaho at my personal expense to testify on behalf of this legislation in the coming weeks.

My bill, if enacted, will do far more than simply punish the employers in Idaho who refuse to stop the practice of hiring undocumented workers to replace Americans workers. I do not wish to pick on the dairy industry, but suffice it to say that the Europeans have an immense dairy industry and they do not nor have they ever relied on illegal aliens to do the work of producing their milk. They use their own citizens and they pay them living wages.

My bill will also end the practice of Idaho honoring the drivers licenses of other states which knowingly and happily issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Last year in northern Idaho we had a young family man murdered in cold blood by an illegal alien who was able to register his vehicle in Idaho legally by using a Washington driver's license which was issued to him despite him having absolutely no ability to prove he was an American citizen. Practices such as this need to stop.

My bill will also make it mandatory that the written portion of a driver's license test be administered in English-without the benefit of a translator. Goodness, if they cannot read the test how will they read the traffic signs, particularly when they warn of ice, storms or accidents ahead?

Finally my bill will make mandatory the use of the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify program. To prove how well this program operates I intend to call for testimony the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare which has used this program to check the employment status of more than 1,000 employees the past three years. If the state of Idaho can use this free program, why can't private employers?

In closing I commend my Canyon County colleagues for bringing a companion bill that will stamp down on illegal aliens using false documentation and identity fraud in order to claim jobs that rightfully belong to American citizens.

Please visit my website to read my bill and other items pertaining to this issue. I invite you to read my blog, has now been updated. This can be done by clicking visiting: http://www.mike4idaho.com/blog.php

As always, I invite your comments. Thank you for the privilege of representing you.

Sincerely yours,

Mike
mnjorgen@senate.idaho.gov

Please visit my website for further information:

www.mike4idaho.com

Contact Me
mnjorgen@senate.idaho.gov
Idaho State Senate
514 W Jefferson St.
Boise, Idaho 83709

Senator Jorgenson

An Idaho native, Senator Jorgenson graduated from Capital High in Boise and thereafter graduated Eastern Oregon University at LaGrande where he received degrees in business and economics. He has two children and three grandchildren and his married to his wife Cynthia.