Beilenson Fails to Get Backing of Teachers : Elections: A 35,000-member union withholds its endorsement because he favors a bill denying citizenship to U. S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

California’s second-largest teachers union has refused to endorse Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) in the June 2 Democratic primary, labeling as “cheap politics” his support of a proposal to deny U. S. citizenship to American-born children of illegal immigrants.

But the president of the California Federation of Teachers left open the possibility that the 35,000-member union may endorse Beilenson, a longtime ally, in the November general election.

The union voted Sunday to withhold its endorsement from Beilenson, a liberal facing a difficult reelection fight in a new, more conservative district spanning the west San Fernando Valley and part of Ventura County.

Beilenson recently announced his backing of a bill introduced by conservative Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) that would revise the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all people born in the United States.

Gallegly said his bill would save billions of tax dollars annually in welfare payments and would benefit poor residents who compete with illegal immigrants for jobs. Under the measure, children of undocumented residents could be deported with their families after court hearings.

Beilenson and others have acknowledged that the proposal has little chance of passing Congress, where it would need a two-thirds vote. Constitutional amendments must also be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

The union vote, taken at a Los Angeles convention, is the first crack to appear in Beilenson’s long alliance with liberal groups after his announcement last week that he backs the Gallegly proposal. He has traditionally received the union’s endorsement.

Beilenson has served eight terms in Congress, representing parts of the western Valley and Los Angeles’ liberal Westside and generally coasting to reelection in a heavily Democratic district.

But he has been forced by reapportionment to run in a newly created and Republican-leaning district. It stretches from the southwest Valley through Agoura Hills and Calabasas into Thousand Oaks.

Beilenson is unopposed in the Democratic primary and in November will face the winner of a nine-candidate Republican primary.

Marty Hittelman, a California Federation of Teachers senior vice president, said the union withheld its endorsement because members felt that Beilenson’s support of the Gallegly bill “was a cheap shot and that he should be called on it.”

“It’s just not acceptable to win elections on the backs of these children. . . . We just don’t believe in that kind of cheap politics,” Hittelman said.

Union President Mary Bergan said that although many members strongly oppose the proposed amendment, the union may still endorse Beilenson in November, especially if the Republican nominee is Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a staunch conservative.

Beilenson said he was “certainly” disappointed by the union’s action and surprised to hear that the union acted on the basis of a single issue.

He said the vote will probably have little impact on his campaign since he does not accept contributions from political action committees representing groups like the teachers union. He said he expects many individual teachers to back him.

He reiterated his support for the Gallegly proposal, saying the United States is the only country in the world that grants automatic citizenship to children born within its borders.

“If your parents are traveling and you get born in London, you don’t automatically become an Englishman,” he said.

Automatic citizenship is “ridiculous and unfair to everyone else, especially to those who have been waiting patiently to immigrate legally,” he said.

Beilenson added that he fears that unless there is some federal action to reduce large-scale illegal immigration, Congress may act to sharply restrict or eliminate legal immigration.