Thread: Immigration: 22 States Following Arizona's Lead With Bills

Immigration: 22 States Following Arizona's Lead With Bills Policing Illegals

Tom Diemer
Correspondent
Politics Daily

Aug. 18, 2010

A federal court ruling throwing out key sections of Arizona's tough anti-illegal immigration law has apparently not stopped momentum for similar "crackdown" legislation in other states. A national lobby, Americans for Legal Immigration, said Wednesday 22 states are now considering versions of the Arizona legislation.

They range from one other border state, Texas, to large northern states like Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Most recently, Colorado and Alabama went forward with legislation, according to the organization.

Activists "have been working hard contacting state lawmakers in every state in America asking them to stand up with Arizona," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC.
Sen. John McCain and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer
The Arizona law took effect last month but with key provisions thrown out by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, including a requirement for police to check the immigration papers of anyone stopped under "reasonable suspicion" of unlawful status. Opponents, including the Obama administration, say such laws lead to racial profiling and harassment of legal immigrants as well as U.S. citizens.

"Other states following in Arizona's misguided footsteps should consider themselves forewarned: Attempts to trample constitutional rights of communities of color in this country must not be permitted," said Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center, part of a civil rights coalition opposed to the law, who commented after Bolton's decision.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is appealing the ruling.

In Washington, Congress is expected to complete action next month on a $600 million bill that would increase border security by adding federal agents and also unmanned surveillance drones to monitor movements along the U.S.-Mexico border.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/18 ... lls-polic/

Numerous comments at the source link.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5576--0-0.html

CNSNews.com

Nearly Half of United States Considering Arizona-Style Immigration Legislation
Thursday, August 19, 2010
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

In this June 15, 2010 file photo, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer speaks in Phoenix. With the scrawl of a pen, Brewer awakened a dormant - but politically explosive - issue of illegal immigration, sending shock waves across the political spectrum in an election year when both parties had hoped to sidestep the topic. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

(CNSNews.com) – Twenty-two states are now in the process of drafting or seeking to pass legislation similar to Arizona’s law against illegal immigration. This is occurring despite the fact that the Obama administration has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona law and a federal judge has ruled against portions of that law – a ruling that is now being appealed.

Next month, two Rhode Island state lawmakers, a Democrat and a Republican, will travel to Arizona to speak with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, local sheriffs, and other officials about how to better craft their own bipartisan immigration bill for Rhode Island, which already has been enforcing some federal immigration laws.

Meanwhile, 11 Republican state lawmakers from Colorado traveled to Arizona this week to meet with officials there on how to craft legislation for the Mile High state.

In addition, Alabama House Republicans announced this week that they would seek to “push an illegal immigration bill similar to the recently approved Arizona law.â€

SECURE THE BORDER - ENFORCE THE LAW!

Hannity just mentioned this on his radio show in the first 15 minutes
but cited the source as CNS NEWS, Not ALIPAC

Immigration law efforts expanding
By Cheri Jacobus - 08/19/10 12:15 PM ET

Arizona does not stand alone. With a growing number of states seriously considering or planning for measures similar to Arizona’s to combat illegal immigration, it's time Democrats take this seriously. Simply calling Republicans and anyone else who supports such measures "racist" is not going be effective, and in fact is proving quite ineffective.

The main sticking point for so many in terms of having a serious, factual discussion of the issue is the Democrats' persistent refusal to recognize the clear difference between "immigrants" and "illegal immigrants" in the obvious hope that the public will not know the difference.

Using such phrases as "We all descend from immigrants" has no place in the debate. Yes, we all know we descend from immigrants and many families pass down from generation to generation stories of how our ancestors arrived in America and worked hard to become citizens. Most of us know someone who has gone through, or is going through, the legal immigration and naturalization process. It is a far cry from someone sneaking into the country and taking advantage of services paid for by U.S. taxpayers. To confuse those two groups is an insult and just plain wrong.

Democrats who continue to use this ruse should be called out on it each and every time they attempt to morph law-abiding Americans and Americans-to-be with people purposefully breaking the law and taking advantage of our generous country. Maybe then we can begin to have a more honest debate that results in protecting our porous borders and being fair to those who are here in full compliance with and with respect for U.S. laws.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/i ... -expanding

Good points!