Another evil right wing initiative

Initiative 924 just died, but there's a new measure which is taking its place:

Washington voters may be asked to decide in November whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to receive public benefits.

Bob Baker, a Mercer Island resident who heads a group called Protect Washington Now, has filed an initiative to force the state to deny illegal immigrants benefits like those in a handful of programs administered by the Department of Social and Health Services.

This proposal is assuredly un-American and will do absolutely nothing to solve the problem of illegal immigration. Absolutely nothing.

Not surprisingly, the people backing this initiative are the same type of folks who decided to play vigilantes in Arizona:

Baker volunteers with the Minuteman Project, which got its start in Arizona two years ago to spot and report illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico.

Fortunately, there is already an opposition group forming to counter Mr. Baker and his ilk:

"Washington residents won't stand for this form of imported initiative," said Michael Ramos, co-chairman of From Hate to Hope, a coalition of 40 local groups formed to campaign against the measure.

"They're proposing to deputize social-service providers as immigration agents and hold them accountable for service the state provides, when it will be a rare case that an undocumented person will be provided such a service."

Here's hoping that Baker and his vigilante pals fail to make the ballot altogether. We already have enough evil right wing initiatives to contend with.