Campaign-style fight against illegal immigration

Facing hurdles in getting illegal immigration legislation passed, Rep. Gayle Harrell has taken the usual step of sending, at taxpayer expense, campaign-style mailers to constituents. The colorful fliers urge people to join the call for tougher laws.

"Dear neighbor," it reads, "we need to take matters into our own hands, since the federal government has refused to act." Harrell, R-Stuart, goes on to explain HB 821, which allows local law enforcement to report the immigration status of anyone caught committing a felony, among other things.

The bill will be workshopped this afternoon, but House Speaker Marco Rubio is cold to advancing anti-immigration measures because he views it as a federal issue.

"It was approved," by House leaders, Harrell told the Buzz. She said up to 5,000 mailers were delivered to her district. UPDATE: Harrell said the cost was about $9,000 and it came from a fund lawmakers use to send out newsletters.

Harrell is running for congress and the mailer raises questions. She denied it was intended to do anything other than raise the profile of an issue before the Legislature. "It's an appropriate use of state money," she said.

Comments

It sounds like Harrell's bill addresses ILLEGAL immigration, so if Rubio is opposed, it means he supports ILLEGAL immigration. (Or he has some conflicting personal reason which has yet to come to light, take your pick.)

I agree. It does appear to be addressing ILLEGAL immigration. If that is the case, I'm all for it. Federal, state, I don't care who gets the ball rolling. Just get it done.

Who was the vendor?

State money should not have been used.

Good use of taxpayer money this year...especially with a bill that's dead.

More obvious waste of tax payer dollars. All should be nervous when the government uses your money to "communicate" with you. Local and county governments love to do this sort of thing.

5:40 we should be even more nervous when taxwatch fanatics offer to do governement "efficiency studies" for local government, using money supplied by the businesses local governments are supposed to regulate. How much do you want to bet that the very first thing they "discover" is that the regulatory bodies should be scaled back or eliminated?

[Chaos]

Illegal immigration is a federal, state and local issue. Any government official that thinks otherwise should be voted out of office.

[Ike]

What hasn't been mentioned is that Harrell's bill, which is very much alive, is to prevent the use of State Tax dollars to benefit ILLEGALS. There are job centers receiving our tax dollars to help ILLEGALS find jobs. ILLEGALS don't pay taxes! They take jobs from honest citizens. Ask your local hospital how many millions they spend caring for ILLEGALS who clog emergency rooms. The Feds aren't doing their hob! If Harrell spends a few dollars to save us millions - Hooray for Harrell!

[raytown58]

Its time that Florida Legislators listen to the public on illegal aliens. We do not want them here, they are costing the American taxpayer enough.

Take away the free medical care. Take away the free schooling. Take away the free welfare. Take away the jobs. What happens?

No more illegals. WOW!! What a simple solution!

No need for a border fence at the cost of hundreds of millions of tax dollars.

Do you think this could work?

Go Gayle! Get support for your bill!