Getting down to business: Texas Legislature will have its hands full when it convenes Tuesday

12:00 AM CST on Monday, January 12, 2009
The Associated Press

IMMIGRATION

Debate has ebbed, but will it pick up?

Talk about illegal immigration has ebbed in the last year, but some Texas lawmakers aim to revive discussions by proposing more than a dozen bills that, among other things, would punish employers for hiring illegal workers and challenge the U.S. citizenship of illegal immigrants' U.S.-born children.

Other bills filed for the 2009 Legislature would require public schools to maintain records on students' immigration status, impose a fee on money wired to Latin America, require identification from voters at the polls, prohibit parole for illegal immigrants and create a state criminal trespassing charge for illegal immigrants enforced by local police.

Several of the proposals are similar to ones that were introduced in the last session but failed to make it out of committee because they were considered unconstitutional.

"In some ways, they follow an old pattern. A lot of bills will be introduced," said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law. "And they will be introduced again for the same political motivation by the same cast of characters. The issue is, 'Is it more likely that they'll get passed this time?' "

The Associated Press

FACT: Texas led all states in 2007 with more than 100 immigration- related bills; only 11 were signed into law, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and New York University School of Law.

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