Kobach’s Immigration Policy Threw Alabama into a RFRA-Like Economic Panic

WRTV: As congressman, Gov. Pence co-sponsored change to birthright citizenship rules

INDIANAPOLIS – Statehouse Republicans yesterday announced that they are inviting one of Donald Trump’s top immigration policy “experts” – Kris Kobach – to kickoff Tuesday’s hearing for the Senate Select Committee on Immigration Issues. Kobach is not just responsible for writing Trump’s infamous border plan, but he is also responsible for creating Arizona and Alabama’s immigration laws and policies that provided RFRA-like economic panics in both states.

“Statehouse Republicans are so stuck on their out-of-touch agendas that they are willing to throw Indiana into yet another economic panic. Wasn’t Mike Pence’s RFRA hard enough for the Hoosier economy?” said John Zody, Chairman. “Hoosiers don’t need any more evidence to know the policies of Mike Pence and Donald Trump only bring further economic damage to our state. I would ask Mike Pence to condemn this, but unfortunately, even his record has shown support for Kobach’s immigration policy. Hoosiers deserve better than this extremism.”

Mike Pence has said he wants to run on his record, and we welcome that discussion. Not only did Mike Pence vote to redefine the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment while in Congress, but Pence would not condemn Donald Trump’s immigration policy or comments from last summer. Then again, the governor is no stranger to putting his political agenda ahead of Hoosier Commonsense. Mike Pence is the governor who had no problem throwing Indiana into a $250 million economic panic when he signed RFRA into law.

So will Mike Pence condemn the Statehouse Republicans’ choice to invite Donald Trump’s immigration policy “expert” to their Senate Committee hearing on immigration? If he doesn’t, Indiana may need to brace for another economic panic.
BACKGROUND INFO ON KRIS KOBACH, DONALD TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICY ADVISOR

Kris Kobach, Advisor to the Donald Trump for President Campaign

HEADLINE: “Kobach: I helped write Trump’s border wall plan.” [Politico, 4/11/16]

HEADLINE: “Kris Kobach endorses Donald Trump and his Mexico border wall.” [Kansas City Star, 2/29/16]

Kobach: “For me, the most important issue in the Republican presidential contest is immigration and its effect on our national security. On that issue Mr. Trump stands head and shoulders above the other candidates.” “Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach endorsed Donald Trump on Monday, hailing the Republican front-runner’s stance on immigration and supporting Trump’s notion that Mexico will pay for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.“For me, the most important issue in the Republican presidential contest is immigration and its effect on our national security,” Kobach said in a statement. “On that issue Mr. Trump stands head and shoulders above the other candidates.” Trump has proposed building a wall on the southern border, which he insists Mexico will pay for, and constantly claims responsibility for thrusting immigration reform into the national spotlight when he announced his candidacy last summer.” [Politico, 2/29/16]

Kobach is an advisor to the Donald Trump campaign on immigration. Donald Trump’s plan to force the Mexican government to pay for a border wall contains provisions authored by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who said he has advised the campaign on immigration. The GOP frontrunner has followed Kobach’s lead in proposing how to pay for the wall, a primary promise of Trump’s campaign. Trump’s proposal to force Mexico to pay for the wall — halting the flow of remittances from the U.S. into Mexico — matches and expands upon the method Kobach, a Republican, put forward when he endorsed Trump in February. [Topeka Capital-Journal, 4/10/16]

Kobach: “I have been in touch with Mr. Trump directly and his campaign team about this issue.” The path outlined by Trump is a more detailed version of what Kobach proposed in February when he endorsed the candidate. During an interview Friday, when directed to Trump’s plan on his campaign website, Kobach said he had drafted portions of the document. The Trump campaign didn’t respond to a request to elaborate on Kobach’s involvement with formulating Trump’s position on paying for the wall. “I have been in touch with Mr. Trump directly and his campaign team about this issue,” Kobach said. [Topeka Capital-Journal, 4/10/16]
Kobach’s Immigration Policy Threw Alabama into a RFRA-Like Economic Panic

Alabama law cost the state $10.8 billion. “But Kobach is perhaps best known as the architect of the anti-immigrant state laws in Arizona and Alabama aimed at making life as difficult as possible for undocumented immigrants who would feel compelled to leave the country. Some of the key provisions in Alabama’s H.B. 56, for instance, required schools to check and report the immigration status of children, barred undocumented students from post-secondary education, and allowed police to demand proof of immigration status from anyone they suspected of being in the country without legal documents. The undocumented workforce fled en masse, and the state lost an estimated $10.8 billion — including 140,000 jobs in the state, $264.5 million in state tax revenue, and $93 million in local tax revenue. Just seven months after the law went into effect, the state legislature passed a round of revisions, weakening requirements for residents to show proof of immigration status. Arizona’s S.B. 1070 underwent a similar kind of failure, with the U.S. Supreme Court eventually striking down key provisions of the law. A joint study by the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center found that Arizona’s economy lost $141 million.” [Think Progress, 2/29/16]

Alabama law cost the state 140,000 jobs. “But Kobach is perhaps best known as the architect of the anti-immigrant state laws in Arizona and Alabama aimed at making life as difficult as possible for undocumented immigrants who would feel compelled to leave the country. Some of the key provisions in Alabama’s H.B. 56, for instance, required schools to check and report the immigration status of children, barred undocumented students from post-secondary education, and allowed police to demand proof of immigration status from anyone they suspected of being in the country without legal documents. The undocumented workforce fled en masse, and the state lost an estimated $10.8 billion — including 140,000 jobs in the state, $264.5 million in state tax revenue, and $93 million in local tax revenue. Just seven months after the law went into effect, the state legislature passed a round of revisions, weakening requirements for residents to show proof of immigration status. Arizona’s S.B. 1070 underwent a similar kind of failure, with the U.S. Supreme Court eventually striking down key provisions of the law. A joint study by the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center found that Arizona’s economy lost $141 million.” [Think Progress, 2/29/16]
Kobach Circulated False Voter Information to Hispanic Voters

Kobach circulated false voting information in Spanish language voter guides. “The Spanish-language voter guides from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office include two errors about registering to vote in the state, while the English guides do not include the same errors. The Spanish-language guides said that voters could register up to 15 days before the election, while the English version included the correct deadline, 21 days before the election, as the Daily Kos flagged last week. And while the English guides told voters they could use their passport as a photo ID, the guides in Spanish did not include a passport in the list. [TPM, 4/11/16]

###