Thread: Migrants brace for state laws

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... i-news-hed

Tribune national correspondent
Published April 10, 2006


IMMOKALEE, Fla. -- Facing the prospect that Congress might not come up with a new federal immigration law this year, state legislators are taking the matter into their own hands, proposing measures to make their states less attractive to illegal immigrants and to punish companies that hire them.

While much of the national debate has centered on the U.S. House bill that would crack down on undocumented workers, immigrant communities across the country are bracing for new state measures as well.

Almost 400 immigration-related bills have been introduced in 42 states since January, a result of the public outcry over the federal government's failure to secure America's borders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Protesters marched in several U.S. cities Sunday, including an estimated 350,000 to 500,000 people in Dallas. And as immigrants and their supporters take to the streets across the nation Monday in a National Day of Action, they will be demonstrating not just against what is going on in Washington but what is happening in their own state capitals.

"Migrant workers are central to the economy in Florida and the rest of the country," said Gloria Hernandez, a Farmworker Association of Florida community coordinator in Immokalee, a community with 15,000 to 20,000 Mexican, Dominican and Haitian immigrants. "We are the ones who pick the vegetables, clean the hotel rooms and work in the restaurants. If we stop for one day, everybody, including President Bush, will notice."

Hernandez's state has one of the country's largest populations of illegal immigrants, and stringent laws already are on the books there. Now legislators in states with newer populations of immigrants are trying to address the issue locally.

"There is a sense that states are trying to be responsive to the public and its frustration with the size of the illegal immigrant population," said Ann Morse, program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures. "It is happening across the board. Traditionally, immigration came to the big six states; now almost every state is grappling with it."

A bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate fell apart Friday when Democrats and Republicans could not agree on how to proceed with a bill to tighten the borders and offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have been in the country at least five years. Even if passed, the Senate bill would have to be reconciled with the House bill, which calls for stronger enforcement measures and includes no route to citizenship.

Federal law pre-empts any state or local laws on immigration, but while Washington struggles with the issue, the states are pushing ahead.

Georgia lawmakers recently passed a bill denying benefits such as unemployment compensation to adults in the U.S. illegally and withholding tax deductions from companies that knowingly employ them. The bill, which would take effect in July 2007 if Gov. Sonny Perdue signs it, also requires police to notify U.S. immigration officials when they arrest an illegal immigrant.

Supporters of the Georgia bill say that illegal immigrants have burdened schools and the health-care system. Opponents argue that the bill would be an inappropriate use of state resources and would not address the real issues.

"It criminalizes employers and employees and creates a cumbersome mechanism to accomplish that. You can call it harsh or just plain stupid," said state Sen. Sam Zamarripa, a Democrat who heads the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. "There is a mob mentality here that is trying to pander to a group of people who have been riled up by talk radio."

Other states crack down

In Virginia, lawmakers proposed blocking illegal immigrants from getting marriage licenses. Tennessee legislators introduced more than a dozen bills this session, including one that would train state troopers to seize illegal immigrants. Tennessee also recently stopped issuing driving certificates, which allowed illegal immigrants to drive without a driver's license, after officials found that some were using fake papers to obtain them.

Measures in New Hampshire and North Carolina would give enforcement power to local police. In Arizona, some lawmakers want to build a wall at the border with Mexico and install a $50 million radar system to track those trying to cross it.

Florida already has stringent laws on education, health care and unemployment compensation. As in most states, children of undocumented workers in Florida are classified as non-residents and must pay higher out-of-state tuition to attend college. In 2004, immigrant children were denied access to Florida KidCare, which provides health insurance for minors. Seasonal farmworkers and construction workers are ineligible for unemployment payments.

Most of the bills introduced in state legislatures would crack down on illegal immigrants, but some of the bills would go in the other direction.

Some states already have eased the rules. Illinois is one of 10 states that allow long-term illegal immigrant students to become eligible for in-state tuition. But the state has rejected measures to let illegal immigrants obtain driver's licenses. Nebraska and New Jersey are among the states considering allowing undocumented workers to get driver's certificates.

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington found that the public is split over how to address the estimated 11 million to 12 million unauthorized migrants. Fifty-three percent said people who are in the U.S. illegally should be required to go home, and 40 percent said they should be granted some kind of legal status that allows them to stay in America.

The battle over immigration is hitting hard in places such as Imokalee, a community that looks like it could be almost any small town in Mexico. Latin music blares from shops adorned with hand-painted signs written in Spanish. People casually make their way home after a long day in the fields picking tomatoes, oranges and chiles.

But residents say it no longer is safe to sit on a sidewalk crate talking with friends or allow their children to ride bikes down Main Street.

"Right now people are scared because they don't feel empowered," said community organizer Hernandez.

About 200 farmworkers and their families gathered in an auditorium recently as Hernandez and others talked about the issues.

Andres and his wife, Anastacia, illegal immigrants who declined to give their last name, are in the middle of the national squabble, but until that night they did not understand what it was all about. But they figured out the most important thing: Some people want to take away Andres' $10-an-hour construction job, kick his family out of the tiny house they rent for $510 a month and send them back to Mexico. As a result, the couple keep their children close and try to stay out of sight.

"Before, we could walk in the street freely. Now we are scared to go out," Anastasia, 32, said through an interpreter. "I wish they would change the law so people can live without fear."

Son `scared all the time'

It is hardest for the couple's 10-year-old son, Guadeloupe. His father has not talked to the three children about what is going on because he does not want to scare them. But Guadeloupe already knows.

"I feel scared all the time," said the 3rd grader, who was born in the U.S. and often is the English interpreter for his parents. "There is not going to be nobody to take care of me. No one to make my food."

Andres, 36, left the meeting feeling uncertain, not sure whether the dream he had for his children will be fulfilled.

"I want them to study and become somebody. This is why we came to America," he said. "We want them to have a better future than we did. We went through a lot to get here and it is being taken away."

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Rallies set Monday

Demonstrations to support immigrant rights are planned across the nation Monday, with the largest turnouts likely in Washington, D.C., and New York City. No mass demonstration is expected in Chicago, where a march of 100,000 people occurred last month and where organizers are preparing for another major march May 1.

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dglanton@tribune.com

Nebraska and New Jersey are among the states considering allowing undocumented workers to get driver's certificates.

No wonder many of the 9-11 terrorists lived in NJ and had NJ driver's licenses.

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington found that the public is split over how to address the estimated 11 million to 12 million unauthorized migrants. Fifty-three percent said people who are in the U.S. illegally should be required to go home, and 40 percent said they should be granted some kind of legal status that allows them to stay in America.

That's not a split, it's a clear majority.

it just does my heart good to see states standing up for states rights!!