LETTER: Sisolak’s Office of New Americans would be a boon to illegal immigrants
May 20, 2019 - 9:00 pm
Last week, I testified against Gov. Steve Sisolak’s Senate Bill 538, which creates the Office of New Americans. The office would coordinate services available to new citizens.
But these services already exist for new legal citizens. This bill is targeting illegal aliens in our state whom the governor deems more worthy of our tax dollars than our schools or our veterans.
Those of us testifying against the bill were admonished that the use of the term “illegal alien” was offensive to one member of the committee. He preferred “undocumented immigrant.” But people who break our laws to come into our country are not immigrants. Immigrants come in legally. Adding insult, one young state senator was allowed to “cross-examine” almost every person who was against the bill. It was bullying.
Do our legislators need to be reminded that they were elected to advocate for the best interest of state taxpayers? The thinly veiled hostility was unnecessary. Prioritizing the needs of people from other countries over Nevadans was shocking. We need a new team in Carson City. One that represents us.