Thread: States, localities embracing tough laws on immigration

States, localities embracing tough laws on immigration

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
June 25, 2010
By Michael W. Savage
WASHINGTON, D.C.

With widespread attention focused on Arizona's tough new law against illegal immigration - and a measure approved this week in the small town of Fremont, Neb. - many similar proposals are under consideration across the country.

Five states - South Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Michigan - are currently are working on Arizona-style legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. NDN, a Washington think tank and advocacy group, said lawmakers in 17 additional other states have expressed support for similar measures.

Since it was adopted in April, the Arizona legislation, which gives law enforcement officers the power to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, has triggered bitter debate and been challenged in court by advocacy groups.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week that the Justice Department plans to sue Arizona over the law, although a department spokesman has said the matter is currently under review.

This week, the spotlight shifted to rural Fremont, which passed an ordinance that would outlaw hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants.

In the first three months of this year, legislators in 45 states introduced 1,184 bills or resolutions dealing with illegal immigrants, an unprecedented number, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

By the end of March, 107 laws and 87 resolutions had been adopted by 34 states, with 39 bills pending. Not all of the proposals were designed to clamp down on illegal immigrants.

Ann Morse, director of the Immigrant Policy Project at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said they represented "a spectrum" of pro- and anti-immigration measures.

"When I talk to legislators about what they're doing in the state, they say this is their way of signaling they want federal immigration enforcement to happen - that they care deeply about the issue, they're working within the parameters they have and sometimes at the edge, trying to get federal attention," she said.

Last month, the Massachusetts Senate amended its budget bill to require state contractors to confirm that their workers are in the country legally.

Earlier, the Massachusetts House narrowly rejected a different proposal to restrict public benefits to illegal immigrants.

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More must join it now. Its imperative if Americans are to take back their nation.
And its not to force the Feds to legalize them passing the buck. They let it get this bad and now they must clean it up.

Don't get your hopes up any time soon

Last year there was well over a thousand such in state laws drafted , but most will die in their state houses by Dems and Libs , many will never even get a hearing and many that do make it through will get slashed by the veto pen.

On the surface this looks good but in reality many state legislatures are controlled by dems and latino interests who will never let these bills see the light of day.