Raleigh, NC: Justice Bob Orr, Republican candidate for governor, released a proposal today to address the problem of illegal immigration and its cost to North Carolina’s citizens.

 “The reality of immigration law and policy in this country,” Orr said, “is that illegal immigrants are prohibited by federal law from receiving most federal benefits and are required by federal law to be educated in our schools, treated in our hospitals, and housed in our jails. This is simply unfair and as governor, I’m going to do all I can to ensure that if the Federal Government continues to shirk its legal obligation to secure our borders and deport those here illegally, then at least our taxpayers are not going to continue paying for it.”

 Orr added, “We have heard a lot of talk about this issue during the campaign; everyone wants state-based solutions but no one has offered any plan to pay for them, so they are in essence telling our taxpayers to keep quiet and dig deeper to fund the failures of the Federal Government. My proposal offers an opportunity for change.”

 “Attached, and at www.orr2008.com , is a proposal that lays out the steps we need to take to make progress on this issue: 1) fix our identification process; 2) determine the actual cost of the services that we provide to illegal immigrants; 3) request reimbursement from the Federal Government through established programs and present a claim for the unpaid expenses, and should we be ignored; 4) bring a suit against the Federal Government for payment of the balance.”

 “North Carolina has two choices,” Orr concluded, “either we keep waiting for the Federal Government to act while paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the services we must provide to illegal immigrants, or we can take aggressive action as I have proposed.”

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