"Mexican ID Card Measure Goes to Senate"

From the LAT:

SACRAMENTO - Identification cards issued by Mexico, already accepted by Los Angeles and 14 other local governments in California, would have to be honored by all cities and counties under a bill that cleared the Assembly on Monday.

Proponents say widespread acceptance of the cards would make it easier for Mexican citizens living in California to open bank accounts, get marriage licenses, use libraries and respond to routine traffic stops by police.

"This bill will benefit thousands of Mexican nationals," said Assemblyman Manny Diaz (D-San Jose), author of AB 522...

Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) urged a no vote, calling the bill "another way of giving amnesty to illegal aliens in California."

But Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R-Cathedral City) said: "It doesn't matter how they got here..."

Those who would benefit most from the bill cannot vote today, Garcia told her colleagues, but "in the future they're going to remember whether you let them live with dignity..."

Some Senator's emails are at this page.

Other emails not listed on the preceding page can be found by going to each Senator's page from here. I'd just use 'Senator.NAME@sen.ca.gov', and if it bounced look it up.

[For background, see the list of links here.]

UPDATE: This list of contributions to "Manny Diaz for Assembly" might be useful. It includes companies like PG&E, Intel, and Microsoft. Perhaps we should ask them, "Do you support illegal immigration?"

California · Tue, 04/29/2003 - 09:26 · · Importance: 1