Earlier this week, the State-Journal Register took note that Illinois’ lawmakers are full of legislative ideas year, having already introduced some 6,700 bills just a month into the current session. Unfortunately, buried within this mountain of legislation are a series of anti-immigrant proposals.

Could this flurry of activity around hot-button issues be the Illinois Republican Party’s latest attempt at relevance? Fred Tsao, policy director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, thinks so. “There’s a concerted effort here to use immigration as a wedge issue to build up resentment against undocumented voters as a way to drum up support, and maybe votes,” he tells us.

A handful of GOP lawmakers -- Sens. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora), Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), Carole Pankau (R-Bloomingdale) and Rep. Harry Ramey (R-West Chicago) -- are behind the legislation, some of which Tsao says is based off “a template” used by right-wingers in other parts of the country. Their common goal appears to be setting citizenship as the new threshold for state employment, health care, homeownership assistance, college aid, and more. In doing so, thousands of legitimate, taxpaying Illinois immigrants could end up as collateral damage.

Below is a rundown of the legislation:

SB 2083 (Lauzen)
The State Employee Proof of Citizenship Act is the most drastic of this session’s anti-immigrant legislation. It would require proof of citizenship to apply for state jobs, register to vote, or enter a polling booth. The bill also aims to cut non-citizens out of state-backed homeowner assistance programs and kick non-citizen children out of the AllKids program.

HB 4142 (Ramey)
The Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act comes in a close second by attempting to make transporting an undocumented person a Class 4 felony; allowing schools to issue identification cards citizens and legal permanent residents only; requiring e-verify for government jobs; and eliminating college scholarship access.

HB 1146 (Ramey)
Amends Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act, potentially requiring employers to use the problematic E-Verify program to comply with certain local business licenses and contracts.

SB 1588 (Brady)
Amends Illinois Housing Development Act to bar the Illinois Housing Development Authority from extending loans or aid to non-citizens, regardless if other parties in the household (including spouses, extended family, children) are citizens and have an interest in the property.

SB 2007/SB 2028 (Panku)
Amends AllKids Health Insurance Act to restrict coverage to children who are citizens. SB 2007 grandfathers current enrollees in the program, while SB 2028 aims to immediately dump noncitizens from the program.

SB 2152 (Lauzen)
Amends Public Aid Code so that, barring the need for immediate medical attention resulting from “a life-threatening condition,” the state won’t help hospitals pick up the health care tab for non-citizens.

Already, one of the bills has passed out of committee (HB 1146). We’re taking it all seriously,” said Tsao. “We want to make sure that these bills don’t get any farther.