The London Telegraph's D.C. correspondent reports home on Florida's new immigration law...

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Florida's proposed immigration law goes further than Arizona

Florida has become the latest state to propose controversial new immigration laws which would force suspects to prove their US citizenship.

By Robert Winnett in Washington
Published: 6:56PM BST 12 Aug 2010

The proposed legislation requires police making an arrest to determine whether the person is in the country legally.

The new laws, proposed by Bill McCollum, Florida’s Republican Attorney General, go further than those which Arizona attempted to introduce earlier this month. Arizona has been blocked from introducing key parts of its new laws by a federal court after opposition from Barack Obama among others.

Under Mr McCollum’s proposed legislation, judges would be allowed to impose longer prison sentences and tougher bail conditions on illegal immigrants who have committed a crime.

Mr McCollum, who is attempting to secure his party’s nomination for governor in the forthcoming midterms, described his proposed new laws as a “huge step for public safetyâ€