ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: Judge Okays Prenatal Care Cutoff
A state appeals court has approved Gov. Pete Wilson's move to eliminate state-funded prenatal care to "70,000 illegal immigrants." The order issued late last week by the 1st District Court of Appeal will allow "the state to implement the cutoff while its legality is being challenged," AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Lisa Kalustian, a spokesperson for Wilson, "said the state would act as soon as legally possible but hasn't yet determined the date."
History Lesson
Originally, "[b]enefits were to have been terminated January 1 for new applicants, and February 2 for current recipients," but an "Alameda County Superior Court judge intervened last month." AP/Union-Tribune reports that "Wilson ordered a cutoff on an emergency basis after a new federal law ... required the nation's states to terminate all current benefits to illegal immigrants." The cutoff was challenged by several lawsuits, most of which have since been rejected. However, "on December 20, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Sandra Margulies issued an injunction against the cutoff," saying that the federal government had not issued regulations on verifying "recipients' immigration status," and that the "state had not complied with a law requiring it to analyze the effect of the aid cutoff on California businesses." Wilson appealed the ruling; that "appeal has not yet been resolved" (1/28).