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There are few bills in Missouri that are so divisive and so precisely divided along party lines. But a proposed photo ID requirement for voting has state lawmakers locked in a clear partisan battle where all members on both sides will remain loyal. So says Representative Stanley Cox, one of two Republicans behind the legislation, which is expected to be taken up on the House floor today.

The voter ID bills have been speedily moving forward this session, sparking a fair amount of controversy at each step of the process.

"I don't know of any other legislation that is like this," Cox tells Daily RFT.

What makes the proposal so unique?

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Illinois law now officially says that undocumented immigrants can legally obtain driver's licenses -- a big win for advocacy groups that argue the change is a boost for public safety and law enforcement on the roads.

Lawrence Benito, an Illinois immigration advocate, tells Daily RFT that this new policy means that hundreds of thousands of drivers in the state will be able to apply for temporary licenses. This includes immigrants just across the Mississippi River who may frequently travel to St. Louis.

And even though Missouri does not have this kind of law on the books, once immigrants receive these licenses, they will be able to drive to the state like any other licensed driver.

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The transcript linked below depicts a conversation recorded September 19, 2007, by officials at the St. Clair County Jail in Osceola, Missouri, which is referenced in this week's feature story, The Battle of Carthage.

The two participants are Encarnación Bail (EB), who was incarcerated pending a trial on federal immigration charges, and Laura Davenport (LD), a bilingual child-development worker in the Carthage school district's Parents as Teachers program.

Davenport had received a supervisor's approval to make the 90-mile trip to drop off a birth certificate application for Bail, so that Bail's son Carlos could be made eligible for government-subsidized immunizations and infant formula.

But as the transcript shows, Davenport did not mention the application at any time during her hour-long visit with Bail. Instead she focused almost exclusively on trying to persuade Bail to give up her baby for adoption.

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C'mon in, huddled masses!

​A new study by researchers at Saint Louis University looks at how Missourians feel about immigrants living in our state. Turns out, we hew pretty closely to the national conversation, and our feelings break down somewhat predictably by political party affiliation. There are some interesting differences in perceptions on either end of the Show-Me State, too.

"We tried to get an empirical idea of what people think about immigration," says Dr. Onesimo Sandoval, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at SLU, and one of the study's lead authors.

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Can we just lay the rumors to rest that Barack Obama is not an American citizen? He was born in Hawaii in 1961 -- two years after it became a state. Not Kenya. Hawaii. Even Glenn Beck has shut up about this, maybe because the claims are so ridiculous the Supreme Court doesn't want to waste its time.

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Here it is. Can you see where it says "City, Town or Location of Birth: Honolulu"? Can we get back to talking about more important things now, like how our economy is still in the shitter?

But apparently that's not good enough for some members of the House Elections Committee out in Jefferson City who proposed a bill yesterday that would require anyone who wants to appear on the Missouri Presidential ballot to produce proof of citizenship. We are the bellwether, remember! Except for 2008, you couldn't win without us! Is it coincidental that that was the year Obama won?

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​A committee of the Missouri House of Representatives has approved a bill requiring that driver's license testing be conducted in English -- and only in English -- sending the measure on to the full House for its vote.

The House Transportation Committee yesterday voted 8-3 for the bill, following strict party lines, the Post-Dispatch reports. (And, yep, that means every Republican on the committee voted yes, which means the bill a decent shot of passage in the GOP-dominated House.)

A similar effort failed in the Missouri House last year.

Landlinemag.com reports that nine states currently limit drivers' testing to English -- but a host of states are considering similar bills to the Missouri proposal, including Montana, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Georgia.More »

KETC/Channel 9, the local PBS affiliate in St. Louis, is surveying members for their views on immigration -- part of a new project called "Homeland," which the station hopes will create a "safe place where the community can come together to determine how to best deal with immigration."

​Our first thought: Dear God, are they insane??!?!?

Admittedly, the views of this writer may be colored her five-plus years spent in the angry belly of the immigration wars: Phoenix, Arizona. But it's not just Phoenix, clearly. Even stories that the RFT has published here in St. Louis about the difficulties faced by illegal immigrants have generated serious vitriol. If you so much as suggest there should be a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, you're sure to receive a barrage of angry comments (and generally at least one suggestion that you deserve to be a raped by a quote-unquote "wetback").

But that's exactly what Homeland wants to combat, says Amy Shaw, KETC's vice president of education and community engagement.

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants you to vote for Ed.

​The latest endorsement (not from a dead man) for Ed Martin comes from Joe Arpaio the self-branded "World's Toughest Sheriff" out of Maricopa County, Arizona.

The Republican congressional candidate looking to unseat Russ Carnahan announced Arpaio's endorsement in a newsletter this morning -- just hours after Martin held a town hall meeting Wednesday night in which he promised to crack down on illegal immigration. Sayeth Arpaio (as quoted in the newsletter): 

"I applaud Ed Martin for taking a strong stand against illegal immigration. We need people like Ed who understand the importance of protecting our country. Too many politicians would prefer to skate around the issues especially if they might be controversial. We need representatives who will say what they mean, and do what they say. I'm for Ed Martin because he obviously will confront issues head on and not hide behind any bureaucratic red tape." -- Sherriff Joe Arpaio

Funny that Arpaio would mention hiding behind red tape as that's exactly what Arpaio's detractors say he's doing in Arizona by refusing a court order that he turn over financial records for his department. (Arpaio is accused of using money earmarked for jail construction and operation to pay for his infamous immigration sweeps.)

But what's really funny (perhaps "disturbing" is a more appropriate word) is that Martin would want anything to do with Arpaio considering the long list of grievances made against the sheriff including accusations that:

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Maria Chappelle-Nadal is smiling but really she's outraged.

​Last week, we reported on HB 2449 and Rep. Mark Parkinson's plan to propose a strict new immigration law in Missouri similar to the one recently enacted in Arizona.

On Monday, the Republican from St. Charles explained that he introduced the bill because 95 percent of his constituents want him to "get tough" on illegal immigration and that he wants to "make sure the people who are employed in Missouri are first and foremost citizens."

Today, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, one of Parkinson's colleagues on the Missouri House Committee for Immigration Reform volunteered to explain why HB 2449 is tantamount to "legislative idiocracy."

Rep. Maria Chapelle-Nadal is a Democrat from University City and a member of the National Hispanic Council of State Legislators. Needless to say, she's not a fan of Parkinson's work.

Sit down, fix yourself another margarita and savor the flavor of one pissed-off politician completely eviscerating the ideas of another:

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Mark Parkinson: "95 percent of my constituents wanted me to get tough on illegal immigration"

​Last week, Daily RFT reported on HB 2449, a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives that would stiffen penalties for people who "harbor" undocumented immigrants in Missouri and make it "unlawful for any illegal alien to transport himself or herself within the state of Missouri."

The sponsor of the bill is Rep. Mark Parkinson, a Republican from St. Charles. In an interview last Friday, Parkinson said that he has a drafted a substitute for the bill that is "identical" to the controversial law enacted recently in Arizona. We also discussed the potential ramifications of a such a law in Missouri and why he thinks it's necessary.

Why did you introduce this legislation?

It's just some more stiffer penalties for being here in the state of Missouri if you're an illegal. To me it's an economic issue. If you're here illegally you're taking a job. That's the main magnet if you're coming to Missouri. if we can eliminate as many of those magnets as possible we'll have fewer illegals. The vast majority are taking jobs at substandard wages. With the economy struggling to come back and unemployment at about ten percent, I want to make sure the people who are employed in Missouri are first and foremost citizens. If we have a surplus of jobs they can go through federal programs to come here and work.

What about the argument that most of the jobs undocumented immigrants are working are low-paying ones that the average unemployed American doesn't want?

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