San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Elder said states should deny aid to undocumented
SACRAMENTO — Larry Elder, the radio host and Republican front-runner in California’s recall election, once wrote that states should be allowed to deny public benefits, including emergency medical care and education, to undocumented immigrants.
Elder’s views are another example of how the most popular Republican vying to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 special election holds many views that buck political norms in a deep-blue state. The conservative commentator outlined his opinions about immigration in a 2010 column he wrote for Creators Syndicate, a national news and features service.
In the piece, he suggested several ways to reduce the federal deficit and the size of government, including by denying citizenship to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants and denying their families public benefits.
“Amend the Constitution to deny citizenship to children of illegal aliens,” Elder wrote in the piece, which was published by several news websites, including Real Clear Politics. “Illegal immigration is unfair to those lawfully trying to gain entry, costs taxpayers money and affects the country’s culture.”
There is nothing to suggest Elder has since disavowed his views on the issue, and a link to the column is still posted on his website. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Elder’s support for repealing birthright citizenship — established constitutional law for more than 150 years — isn’t entirely surprising, given that he was a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump. The ex-president also threatened to abolish it, but didn’t succeed and probably couldn’t have because the Supreme Court has held that the right is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.
In his 2010 column, Elder even went a step further than Trump, suggesting the Constitution should be amended so states can refuse to provide undocumented immigrants with basic public benefits, such as emergency health care or access to public schools for their children.
“Amend the Constitution to overturn Supreme Court decisions that prohibit states from denying free public education and medical benefits, including emergency benefits, to illegal aliens,” Elder wrote.
While immigration hasn’t been at the forefront of the recall campaign in recent months — taking a backseat to issues such as homelessness, crime and the pandemic — rhetoric about unlawful immigration was crucial to the origins of the recall effort against Newsom.
Conservative activists who filed the original recall petition on Feb. 21, 2020, weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept into California, cited immigration as a major reason for their effort.
“Laws he endorsed favor foreign nationals, in our country illegally, over that of our citizens,” the notice of intent to recall Newsom stated. “He has imposed sanctuary state status and fails to enforce immigration laws.”
Elder’s comments are also reminiscent of the polarizing debate over California’s Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure that sought to exclude immigrants from receiving public social services if they couldn’t prove they were in the country legally. Voters approved the measure, but the bulk of Prop. 187 was struck down by a federal court and never took effect.
The fight over Prop. 187 galvanized a generation of Latinos — many of whom called the measure racist — into becoming a political force that helped Democrats gain control of the state.
David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University, said that’s why Elder’s comments could be particularly damaging to the recall effort. He said the rhetoric could hamper Republicans’ aim to court older, independent-leaning Latino voters who are lukewarm on Newsom.
“This presents a toxic mix of loaded language and views that many voters will find troubling,” McCuan said. “Revisiting the days of 187 ... is not a winning component of a Republican strategy.”
Elder, in his column, also advocated for going further than Prop. 187 in a big way: The ballot measure did not seek to deny access to publicly funded emergency health care because federal law prohibits doing so. But, as he suggested, amending the Constitution would negate that requirement.
In the piece, Elder suggested the United States should increase the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country legally, provided that entry was “tailored to highend, well-educated foreigners who would add to the industrial capital of the nation.”
He also argued that temporary guest workers allowed to enter the country should have a portion of their wages held in a government account and “given back only when the alien leaves.”
Polls show Elder is the undisputed front-runner to replace Newsom if the governor is recalled. On the campaign trail, Elder has criticized Newsom for allowing undocumented people to receive state tax rebates, driver’s licenses and publicly funded health care.
“The pandemic has served as a reminder of our state’s limited resources, such as ICU capacity and hospital beds (just to name two),” Elder told the San Diego Union-Tribune this month. “We cannot prioritize illegal immigrants over California taxpayers.”