Rep. Koch Named to Interim Study Committee
7/8/2008
(STATEHOUSE) July 8, 2008 — State Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford), a national leader among state legislators on the issue of illegal immigration, has been selected by Indiana’s legislative leaders to serve this summer on the Interim Study Committee on Immigration.
 
The committee will consist of 12 legislators, six from the House of Representatives and six from the Senate, and will meet and hold hearings during the summer. The committee will submit its findings and recommendations to legislative leaders by Nov. 1, before the 2009 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
 
 The committee is charged by legislative leaders with investigating:
 
  • The financial impact of illegal immigration in Indiana on education, health care, the criminal justice system, and social services.
  • The impact of illegal immigration on wages and employment.
  • The impact of illegal immigration on state and local entities that issue, or routinely check, identification.
  • Federal limitations on state actions regarding immigration.
  • The current and future potential of the E-Verify system (including its successors and/or alternatives) regarding its reliability, accessibility and dependability.
 
“The federal government has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to secure our borders and Americans are looking to their state legislatures for help,” said Rep. Koch.  “Legal immigration helped build America; but illegal immigration devalues American citizenship and is unfair to those who seek to share the American dream through lawful, orderly immigration, often waiting many years for the opportunity to emigrate here. We should not reward those whose first act upon American soil is to break the law.
 
 “I look forward to working with my colleagues to document the effects on illegal immigration in Indiana. States like Arizona and Oklahoma have demonstrated that illegal aliens will self-deport if the economic incentives are eliminated by state law,” Rep. Koch said.
 
 Last year, Rep. Koch joined legislators from 24 other states to create State Legislators for Legal Immigration. The organization’s Web site is www.StateLegislatorsForLegalImmigration.com . Rep. Koch has authored extensive legislation that would, among other things, end non-emergency taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens, punish employers who knowingly hire them, and prohibit so-called sanctuary cities that harbor illegal aliens. Rep. Koch’s legislation concerning illegal immigration can be viewed online through his Web site at www.in.gov/h65.
 
Rep. Koch serves House District 65, which includes parts of Bartholomew, Brown, Jackson and Lawrence counties. 
 

Visit us online at www.in.gov/legislative

 

Indiana General Assembly House of Representatives
PRESS RELEASE

State Rep. Eric Koch
Indiana House Republican Caucus
Room 401-8, Statehouse
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Contact: Jonathan Foltz
House Communications Division
(317) 232-9805 or (800) 382-9841
e-mail: jfoltz@iga.in.gov

FOR  IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 8, 2008