Thread: Arizona bills focus on illegal immigration

Arizona bills focus on illegal immigration
Tough plans not expected to clear Arizona Legislature

by Alia Beard Rau - Feb. 12, 2012 10:23 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com

Last year, Alabama surpassed Arizona in imposing tough measures targeting illegal immigration by passing a law that does everything Senate Bill 1070 does and more.

This year, some Republican Arizona lawmakers hope to reclaim the reputation for having the toughest illegal-immigration laws in the nation.

Lawmakers have revived legislation that would require school districts to document the number of illegal-immigrant children in public schools and require hospital staff to report illegal immigrants seeking care.

But the bills' chances of success are slim. Similar bills failed in the Legislature last year, and momentum for such measures seems to have faded as Republicans focus on the economy, jobs and upcoming elections.

Alabama is the only state in the nation to require schools to check legal status of students; however, the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit halted the enforcement of that part of the law in October.

No other state requires hospitals to check and report legal status.

Other states, including Missouri and Georgia, are considering similar measures this year.

In Arizona, this year's bills reflect the intent of SB 1070, which states a goal of "attrition through enforcement," making the laws so tough that illegal immigrants choose to leave Arizona or not come here at all.

Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 1444, which would require school districts to collect data on the number of illegal-immigrant students, and Senate Bill 1445, which would require hospital personnel to notify police of any illegal-immigrant patients and compile an annual report of data on those patients. The bills would not prevent schools from teaching students or doctors from providing medical treatment.

Rep. Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, sponsored House Bill 2489, which would force public schools to collect data on the number of illegal-immigrant students. Schools could not include those students in calculations used to determine per-student state funding.

Smith said his goal is to calculate how much state taxpayers spend educating and caring for illegal immigrants.

"As taxpayers, we have a right to know," he said.

Nationally, the push to count illegal-immigrant students has been based on an effort to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 1982Plyler vs. Doe ruling requiring states to educate children who are in the country illegally. The court essentially ruled that states must educate all children unless a state can show a substantial negative impact. Some believe that documenting a state's financial impact from educating illegal immigrants could prove a substantial state interest.

The Arizona bills are considered a long shot.

Former Sen. Russell Pearce, who lost a recall election in the fall, isn't around this year to shepherd them through the process. Pearce authored SB 1070, served as Senate president last year and for years has been a powerful political proponent of illegal-immigration-enforcement measures.

Also, Republican senators who voted down the same bills last year are still here this year. Their opposition was primarily based on the business community's testimony that the bills would be bad for business and jobs in Arizona.

Legislative leaders have assigned the bills to two committees each, and committee chairs must schedule them for public hearings in both committees before the full chamber can consider them. Typically, multiple committee assignments is a sign that leadership doesn't support a bill. Generally, it's tougher for bills with multiple committee assignments to pass.

The committee chairs have not yet scheduled any of the bills for public hearings.

But Smith said neither the Appeals Court ruling against Alabama's law nor Arizona's legislative hurdles will deter him. He said there are many ways to get bills before the full chamber for consideration.

Both Smith and Seel have several placeholder bills they could use as "strikers." Late in the session, lawmakers could take these innocuous bills, if they are still alive, strike out the bill's language and replace it with wording that does something entirely different.

Anjali Abraham, public-policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, said she's watching the bills this year but isn't concerned about their success in any form.

"I think there are enough people who want to move on from this kind of thing and focus on jobs and the economy and other issues," Abraham said.

But even if the bills don't pass, Abraham said their existence alone is damaging, particularly for Arizona schoolchildren. She said not only do parents become afraid to enroll children who aren't in the country legally, but illegal-immigrant parents whose children are legal also become fearful.

"Every time one of these bills is proposed, it has a chilling effect on people enrolling children in school, even if the child is a U.S. citizen and has every right in the world to receive the education they are promised," she said.

Smith said the education bill should not cause concern in the immigrant community.

"We are not deporting them; we're just collecting data," he said. "It's just numbers."

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