LISA KIM
Candidate, State Delegate District 9B
A New Voice | A New Energy
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Indivisible Howard County/Immigration Action Team Candidate Questions
Several important bills about immigration failed to pass the State Legislature in the 2022 session.
We are interested in whether you will support these or similar bills if they are introduced in 2023.
Are you will to work with immigration support advocates to co-sponsor/champion any of these or similar bills? Will you work to convince your colleagues to vote in favor?
–No. I am Chairperson of the Committee to Repeal Sanctuary County Status in Howard County. We must vote to Repeal the Liberty Act, otherwise known as Sanctuary County for Illegal Immigrants.
We are told by our elected at the State level and our current Delegate in 9B that we simply cannot afford a gas tax holiday extension (our current delegate voted AGAINST the gas tax holiday extension with a nearly $8 billion budget surplus) or repeal of its set in stone increases. Yet, we apparently have more than enough taxpayer dollars to continue to fund and increase funding of the already $5 billion a year Marylanders spend on illegal immigrants. When was the last time we had $5 billion a year dedicated to a need that affected us in Maryland? Children with special needs, Adults with special needs, Mental Health Crisis Centers, and the list goes on. This is not $5 billion once, this is $5 billion year after year after year.
Repeal the Liberty Act and let’s stop funding illegal immigration at the expense of needs we have as U.S. citizens and legal immigrants in Maryland.
1. (HB559/SB265 2022) Probation before Judgment (PBJ) -Probation not Deportation. For US citizens, probation before judgement allows a judge to strike a conviction and impose probation instead. However, for non-US citizens the current MD PBJ statute is still considered a conviction and can result in arrest and deportation via the Immigration and Nationality Act.
HB559/SB265 would provide judicial safeguards for non-US citizens, allowing our immigrant neighbors to live without the fear of deportation and family separation that federal law imposes because of the current PBJ statute. HB559 passed the Maryland House but did not get voted on in the Senate.
–There is a difference between illegal immigration and legal immigration and there are some who want to use these terms interchangeably as if they are the same and they are not the same. I support legal immigration only and I support the consequences that come with being here illegally. I do not support new laws that allow illegal immigrants to continue violating existing immigration laws.
2. (HB114/SB129) Access to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings would create a legal representation program for detained Marylanders facing deportation and ensure their right to counsel.
–I do not support using taxpayer dollars for illegal immigrants to ensure their rights U.S. citizens and legal immigrants do not even have. U.S. citizens and legal immigrants do not receive free attorneys for civil proceedings so why should an illegal immigrant? Marylanders do not get free attorneys for divorces, lawsuits, landlord tenant disputes, and other civil cases. If the United States government comes after you for alleged unpaid taxes, you are not entitled to a free attorney to fight the government. Why are we bending over backwards to ensure that illegal immigrants have more rights than U.S. citizens and legal immigrants?
3. (HB1035/SB728) Access to Care Act This bill will ensure that all income-eligible Marylanders can purchase health insurance through the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, regardless of immigration status.
–No, I do not support using taxpayer dollars for illegal immigrants for anything. There are enough U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who would benefit from free healthcare. If there is enough money to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants, it should not be at the expense of U.S. citizens or those who are here legally, and that money needs to go to U.S. citizens and those here legally for their healthcare needs. It is amazing how eager politicians are to give away U.S. citizens’ and legal immigrants’ hard-earned money taken forcibly by the government to people who should not be here in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, it is never government money it is money usurped from hard working taxpayers. There is no such thing as government money, it is hard working taxpayers’ money. I believe in taking as little as possible instead of finding frivolous ways to spend more of it for programs such as these.