Advocate: Neb. immigration measures slow progress

By JEAN ORTIZ
Saturday, Apr 25, 2009 - 10:22:51 pm CDT



Cities and states that are trying to work out their own solutions to illegal immigration are not making constructive changes and are slowing efforts in fixing what is a federal problem, a national immigrant-rights advocate said.

Legislation aimed at curbing illegal immigration, whether on the state or local level, has instead amounted to costly legal battles and divided communities, said Lucas Guttentag, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in an interview with The Associated Press.

“They’ve diverted attention from addressing real problems, so I don’t think they’ve helped at all. In fact, I think they’ve hurt. They’ve caused people to focus on the wrong issue,â€