State panel debates illegal immigration bill

— An Arkansas lawmaker pushing to ban most state services for illegal immigrants on Wednesday amended his proposal to exempt prenatal care from the benefits banned, but still faced heavy opposition from state officials and advocates who say it could pose a health risk to the state.

The House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee was expected to spend most of the afternoon debating the proposal by state Rep. Jon Hubbard, R-Jonesboro. Hubbard's bill would ban state benefits for illegal immigrants except during emergencies or when life-saving measures are required.

During occasionally heated exchanges with the panel, Hubbard defended his measure against complaints that it would deny services such as immunization and that it would target children for the actions of their parents.

"I don't want to hurt children," Hubbard said. "At the same time, I think these people are exploiting the compassion of the people of Arkansas because they know if they come here then they're going to provide benefits for them."

The panel was expected to vote later Wednesday afternoon on Hubbard's proposal, but the committee chairman said he wanted to give time for supporters and opponents of the proposal to speak to legislators.

Hubbard amended his proposal to address two of the biggest complaints from Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and others. He removed a provision that would have required anyone seeking state benefits to sign an affidavit and to have the state pay for a notary to verify the signature. Beebe and state officials had complained that proposal would have cost the state millions of dollars to hire additional employees.

Hubbard also changed his proposal so it would allow prenatal care for illegal immigrants. Under a program that was created when Republican Mike Huckabee was governor, Arkansas provides prenatal care for women who are in the country illegally. The care is provided by the state to women earning up to 200 percent of the poverty level who are either undocumented or who are documented citizens but have not been in the country legally long enough to qualify for a similar Medicaid program.

Hubbard had initially called the care a magnet that drew illegal immigrants to the state, but later removed it from his proposal after several lawmakers objected.

State officials said they were still worried about the impact the legislation would have.

Paul Halverson, director of the state Health Department, said the state's health centers don't check for citizenship status when they provide services such as immunizations and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

"Anything that would have a chilling effect on people not coming to the Health Department to receive testing and early treatment is a negative on the health of this state and the people who live here who aren't interested in getting a disease, but may in fact be unwittingly exposed to diseases that could have been prevented," Halverson said.

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