Not All House Republicans Sold On Immigration Bill
Donna Rossi
Reporter, KPHO.com

POSTED: 6:50 pm MST April 7, 2010
UPDATED: 6:36 am MST April 8, 2010

PHOENIX -- There could be a few road blocks for proposed immigration enforcement legislation once expected to be on the fast track to the governor's desk.

Senate bill 1070 has already passed the Senate and two committees in the House. It is ready to go to the floor for debate but has not yet been put on the agenda. Many believe that's because there are not enough votes to get the bill passed. The bill would give Arizona the toughest state laws in the country on the issue of immigration enforcement. The law would make it a state crime to be in the country illegally. A person could also be charged for transporting anyone who is an illegal immigrant.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican from Mesa, said last week that he had the votes in the House to get the bill passed and he had assurances from the Gov. Jan Brewer that she would sign it.

Wednesday, a house Republican Russell Jones expressed concerns about the bill and said he and at least one other Republican representative was working on amendments to address some of the concerns. Jones said, as written, a number of members of the Republican caucus might very well be inclined to vote no on the bill. Jones said among the concerns included the hidden costs to cities and counties to implement the law, the possibility of wrongfully detaining U.S. citizen's or Mexican nationals legally here and the diversion of law officers who enforce the law from their other duties.

The bill is expected to be heard by the full House sometime next week.

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