Thread: Copycat immigration enforcement bill dies in Mississippi Senate

Copycat immigration enforcement bill dies in Mississippi Senate

By Marcos Restrepo | 04.04.12 | 9:57 am

An immigration enforcement bill that contains the same type of provisions that have Arizona’s S.B. 1070 poised for a Supreme Court hearing died Tuesday in the Mississippi Senate.

Immigration Works, a national organization “advancing immigration reform that works for all Americans – employers, workers and citizens,” said Tuesday in a press release that “Mississippi isn’t the only state to hesitate on immigration this year. Lawmakers across the country are holding off. Some are waiting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in its second immigration federalism case in so many years, U.S. v Arizona.”

The Supreme Court will hear arguments about Arizona’s law, known as S.B. 1070, on April 25.

S.B. 1070 has served as a model for other states and has brought to the forefront questions about how states can enforce existing federal immigration laws.

Immigration Works described “what made the difference in Mississippi”: “Business leaders and law enforcement officials spoke out persuasively, expressing concerns about the consequences of HB 488. The employer coalition that opposed the bill included the Mississippi Farm Bureau, the Mississippi Poultry Association, the state chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors and several foresting and nursery groups, as well as blueberry and sweet potato growers.” (Read the full press release below.)

The Immigration Policy Center writes that H.B. 488 “would have, among other things, allowed police officers to determine the immigration status of individuals they ‘reasonably suspect’ are in the country without documents. While HB 488 is dead, however, state House members may still be looking to keep these immigration enforcement measures alive by inserting them in other bills.”

According to the Associated Press, in late March “the president of Mississippi Sheriffs’ Association and the executive directors of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police, the Mississippi Municipal League and the Mississippi Association of Supervisors” sent a letter to the state Senate “opposing an immigration enforcement bill because of what they see as unanswered questions about how it would affect police agencies and local government.”

Copycat immigration enforcement bill dies in Mississippi Senate | Florida Independent

With what I've been reading here lately, I'm really really getting discouraged....

Originally Posted by forest

With what I've been reading here lately, I'm really really getting discouraged....

We have good news too:
http://www.alipac.us/f12/ice-arrests...onwide-254161/
http://www.alipac.us/f12/129-878-dep...2012-a-253564/

Tough anti-illegal-immigration law dies in Mississippi

By Richard Fausset 3:28 p.m. PDT, April 3

ATLANTA -- Mississippi's controversial illegal immigration crackdown bill died in a state Senate committee Tuesday, bucking a trend in Deep South states for more-stringent enforcement efforts.

Reportedly still afoot, however, are other legislative maneuvers to get the core elements of the bill onto the desk of recently elected Gov. Phil Bryant, a strong supporter of an Arizona-style immigration law. Pro-immigrant groups say they are not ready to declare victory until the legislative session ends next month.

"The war continues -- that's the reality," Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said in an interview. "I'm sure if we're successful in killing this monster, it's going to come up again in some other form."

The bill, HB 488, passed the state House last month, but died quietly in a state Senate judiciary committee chaired by a Democrat.

It was tough news for conservative Republicans who thought the bill had a good chance of passage. After the failure of a similar bill last session, the GOP, in November elections, secured control of both chambers of the Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. The Republican Bryant, meanwhile, was swept into the governor's office on a strong anti-illegal-immigration platform.

Opposition to the bill came not only from liberals and civil rights groups, but from business groups as well, including the Farm Bureau and the Mississippi Poultry Assn., which worried a crackdown would damage the state economy.

The state's rules of governance also came into play. In Mississippi, senate committee chairs are appointed by the lieutenant governor. The current holder of that position, Republican Tate Reeves, had appointed a Democrat to as chairman of the judiciary committee, and it was that Democrat -- Hob Bryan, a University of Virginia-educated attorney from the town Amory, Miss. -- who finished off the bill by not putting it up to a committee vote.

Bryan could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. But Laura Hipp, a spokeswoman for Reeves, indicated that not all of the self-proclaimed conservatives in the state were on the same page.

"Lt. Gov. Reeves believes we need to do something to rid our state of illegal immigrants, but he respects the fact that the chairman listened to concerns expressed by the Mississippi Economic Council, Farm Bureau, the Mississippi Poultry Assn., and local cities, counties, police chiefs and sheriffs, about the potential impact of this bill on taxpayers," Hipp said in a statement.

On Tuesday evening, Reeves' conservative credentials were called into question by Rodney Hunt, the head of the Mississippi Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, and a high-profile member of the Mississippi Tea Party.

"We're very disappointed," Hunt told the Los Angeles Times. "With the Tea Party this year, our No. 1 issue and legislative priority was illegal immigration."

The bill had already had some of the toughest provisions removed, including one that would require school officials to count illegal immigrant students. But other provisions remained that supporters said would help discourage illegal immigrants from staying in the state, including new rules that would make it more difficult for businesses to hire them.

The Associated Press reports that key elements of the immigration bill have been inserted into another piece of legislation, still alive in their chamber, that deals with the issue of counterfeit goods, though the maneuver may fall victim to rules that are intended to limit such shoehorning.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that Mississippi, with a total population of 3 million, has 20,000 to 70,000 illegal immigrants living within its borders.

Strict illegal immigration laws have passed in recent months in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, as conservatives looked for ways to deal with the issue in the face of perceived inaction by Washington. All of those laws have been challenged in federal court.

Some clarity on states' ability to implement such laws will likely come after the U.S. Supreme Court hears challenges to Arizona's 2010 immigration crackdown bill, SB 1070, this month.

Tough anti-illegal-immigration law dies in Mississippi - ivpressonline.com

I wonder how much the casinos that operate in MS and have a LOT of non-English speaking workers had to do with this. They seem to control Nevada elections. JMO