By Sylvia Maria Gross
Kansas City, MO – Democrats on a special Missouri House committee on immigration have refused the sign the final report, because they say some of its assertions never came up during hearings. The committee held a series of forums throughout Missouri over the summer and released the report at the end of last week. KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross has more.
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The report recommends that the federal government deny citizenship to children born in the United States to illegal immigrants and eliminate income-related taxes, so citizens and immigrants would all be taxed through their purchases. Another recommendation identifies legalized abortion as contributing to a labor shortage. Republican Committee Chairman Ed Emery says that shortage has spurred illegal immigration.
EMERY: That's one of those things that's kind of intuitively obvious, but I felt like it was significant enough that we should at least mention it in the report.
Democratic Committee Member Trent Skaggs says the abortion references undermine the credibility of the report.
SKAGGS: I think it's going to be pretty hard then to pass meaningful legislation.
Skaggs said the Democrats were ready to sign a preliminary version. He said there was agreement on some of the legislative recommendations, like increased sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants. State level recommendations in the report include stricter penalties for employers, more local enforcement of immigration laws, restrictions on higher education and alternative detention techniques for illegal immigrants.