AUSTIN - A member of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus has asked its chairman to begin formulating a strategy to counter a raft of immigrant-bashing bills that have already been pre-filed for the 80th Legislature.

In a letter to MALC Chair Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, has recommended the group start a letter-writing campaign and media blitz to counter “ugly” anti-immigration measures.

“It is apparent to me that the battles in the Texas Legislature will be outright ugly, and undoubtedly nastier and more contentious than they have been in past sessions,” Alonzo wrote.

Alonzo said bills such as denying public assistance and other benefits to the children of undocumented immigrants have hit close to home for him because his district is not far from Farmers Branch, where the city council unanimously approved an ordinance that threatens landlords with fines if they rent to undocumented immigrants.

“Our people are getting hurt. They are leaving Farmers Branch. Their lives are being totally disrupted,” Alonzo told the Guardian.

Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has filed a bill that would deny state benefits, including food stamps, public housing, unemployment assistance, disability payments, and welfare payments, to the children of illegal immigrants. The children, if born in the United States, are American citizens.

A spokeswoman for Berman told the Guardian that the lawmaker was not making any public comments about his immigration legislation at this time.

Rep. Diane Delisi, R-Temple, has filed a bill that would overturn legislation passed in 2001 that grants in-state college tuition rates to certain undocumented students.

The original legislation, otherwise known as the DREAM Act, was authored by Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston. It became a campaign issue in the gubernatorial election when independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn said she would abolish the DREAM Act. Republican Gov. Rick Perry supports it.

Alonzo said other “immigrant-bashing” bills had been filed by Reps. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, and Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton, whose district includes Farmers Branch.

“I firmly believe it is imperative that the Mexican American Legislative Caucus start strategizing now, and not wait until the 80th Regular Session starts, to counteract some of the already pre-filed legislative proposals and neutralize the ugly battles and other anti-immigration measures that are certain to be debated when we return to Austin come January 9, 2007,” Alonzo wrote, in his letter to Gallego.

“It is urgent that we determine what course of action that the MALC can take to defeat some of those immigration-bashing measures that would be detrimental to all Texans, particularly our immigrant and Latino community.”

Alonzo said it was imperative that MALC starts a “counter-attack strategy” and not be caught “blind-sided” once the session starts.

“We must also do all we can as a Caucus to dispel many of the myths and misconceptions that some of our colleagues are already starting to spread again across the media, conveniently using our immigrant, tax-paying residents as scapegoats and the sole reason for all the societal ills and financial problems that currently plague our state and nation.,” Alonzo added.

Rep. Norma Chávez, D-El Paso, another MALC member, said she did not know how many “hateful and anti-Christian” bills would be referred to the committee she chairs, Border and International Affairs. The speculation is that many will be referred to State Affairs.

Chávez said what riled her most was legislation that penalized the children of undocumented immigrants, many of whom were born American citizens. “If you claim to be Christian, turn to the Bible and read Luke 18,” Chávez said.

“Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these,” Luke 18 states.

Chávez said she hoped churches of all denominations would lead the charge against the anti-immigrant bills. She said she would be talking to church leaders in El Paso over the coming week.

As a committee chair, Chávez is one of a band of Democrats known as the Craddick D’s. Some analysts believe the Craddick D’s will hold greater sway in the 80th Legislature because Republican Speaker Tom Craddick lost six GOP-held seats to Democrats over the past year.

Asked if the Craddick D’s could use their leverage to stop anti-immigrant bills, Chávez said: “We have already seen the Speaker open up discussion to the issues we are looking at. That is a good start. We are obviously going to take a leadership position on these issues.”

Click here to view Alonzo letter to Gallego