Even more citizens could be encouraged to come forward to bring illegal immigrant relatives into the system, they said.
The current law, in which assisting someone to die is illegal but relatives are unlikely to be prosecuted, is agreed by all sides to be a fudge, a tough law with a kind heart.
It would be illegal for relatives or friends who needed to pay the bills — while you were in a coma, for instance — to tap into your online accounts without authorization from you or from a court, Ms. Char said.
An Italian-American longshoreman had turned in to authorities two illegal immigrants, relatives he had been sheltering in his home, in order to stop one of them from marrying his niece.
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States made it easier for nonnative soldiers to become citizens and lowered barriers for illegal immigrant relatives of soldiers to become naturalized.
The same even appears to be true of illegal immigrants: relative to their overall numbers, they are underrepresented in the nation's prisons.
Hispanic voters want more than just a path to citizenship for their illegal friends and relatives.
After the story broke, reporters and prosecutors found other abuses, including widespread (and illegal) hiring of relatives, politicking on government time and theft.
With so much focus these days on the subject of illegal immigration, the relatives were fearful of being deported, they said, even though Arizona's new immigration law requiring police to check documentation for those they suspect are in the country illegally doesn't take effect until July 29.
Among other things, applicants must list where they have lived; contacts with foreign citizens and travel abroad; the names and personal details of relatives; illegal drug use and mental health counseling except in limited circumstances.
