Thread: Ariz. House to act on immigration enforcement bill

Ariz. House to act on immigration enforcement bill
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:00 am

The Arizona House is scheduled Wednesday to debate and vote on a sweeping bill to strengthen immigration enforcement laws.

The bill has already been passed by the Senate so House approval would complete legislative action and send it to Gov. Jan Brewer.

Provisions include banning local governments from adopting policies that prevent police from asking people about their immigration status and making it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally or to transport or conceal an illegal immigrant.

And it seeks to curb day-labor employment by making it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work in a public place or for anyone to hire someone from a vehicle.

Posted in State-and-regional on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:00 am Updated: 9:00 am. | Tags:


http://azdailysun.com/news/state-and-re ... b54a3.html

Ariz. House set to act on immigration enforcement bill

Jacques Billeaud The Associated Press
March 17, 2010 12:03 pm

PHOENIX - The Arizona House is scheduled to vote Wednesday afternoon on a bill that would criminalize the presence of illegal border-crossers in the state and ban soft immigration policies in police agencies.

The proposal would make Arizona the only state to criminalize the presence of the state's estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants through an expansion of its trespassing law.

It would prohibit police departments from having policies that restrict the enforcement of federal immigration law and require officers to try to determine people's immigration status when there's reasonable suspicion they are in the country illegally. It also would prohibit people from blocking traffic when they seek or offer day-labor services on street corners.

Supporters say the new rules are needed because the federal government has failed to crack down on illegal immigration. Opponents say such new duties would be costly and lead to racial profiling.

Similar proposals have cleared the Legislature in recent years, but were vetoed by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. Backers of this year's proposal were confident that Napolitano's successor, Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, would sign the bill into law if it clears the Legislature.

Many of the state's local police bosses have long resisted suggestions that their officers conduct day-to-day immigration enforcement, saying it would distract them from investigating other crimes and create distrust among illegal immigrants who might not help officers investigating crimes because they fear being sent home.

The bill is opposed by the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police. But it's supported by a union representing Phoenix police officers.

A similar bill cleared the Senate in February.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 002e0.html