Thread: MS: Illegal immigration: state or federal issue?

Illegal immigration: state or federal issue?
Sunday, February 01, 2009
By CHERIE WARD

State Sen. Michael Watson says illegal immigration should to be addressed on a state level, while a Mississippi-based activist says it's a federal issue.

Watson, R-Pascagoula, wrote a law last session that requires private and public employers to use an Internet program, E-verification, as a screening method for new employees. Failure to use the system comes with stiff penalties for employers and undocumented immigrants.

It is the first and only immigration law in the state, but Bill Chandler, executive director of Mississippi Immigrants' Rights Alliance in Jackson, said the state should leave immigration matters to the federal government.

"Trying to take over on a state level is too extensive and unnecessary," Chandler said.

Chandler said at a Senate Judiciary A hearing last week at the state Capitol that President Barack Obama's administration will be taking a new look at immigration and its influences on the nation.

Watson, however, said that the issue is a state problem and has written or co-written several bills addressing immigration this session.

Pointing to the need to verify immigration status, the first-term state senator cited the possibility of Congress providing health insurance benefits to legal immigrants under 21 through an allotment for the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

SCHIP, as the state and federally funded program is known, provides health insurance to children in families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Under current law, legal immigrants are generally barred from Medicaid and SCHIP for five years after they enter the United States.

A Democratic proposal before Congress would give states the option of covering children and pregnant women, with the federal government subsidizing the costs under both programs. This part of the bill deals only with legal immigrants.

"Now, more than ever, we have to have state procedures in place that verify an immigrant's legal status," Watson said.

Watson's other immigration bills this session include legislation that would give penalties to those found falsifying identification and transporting illegal immigrants.

He is also proposing penalties for undocumented immigrants who purchase vehicle tags or obtain drivers licenses.

In all, there are about 20 bills in the Legislature this session that address illegal immigration.


www.gulfive.com

State Sen. Michael Watson says illegal immigration should to be addressed on a state level

So there are politicians that are intelligent. Who would have guessed.

They only want the federal government to handle immigration because they no there is no possible way the feds can do something on this scale alone...

even if they gave amnesty to the ones here now there in no way in the future the laws can be enforced with out state and local law enforcement!!

it is all a scam to keep from ever being able to enforce our laws!

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Miss. bill targets immigrants with fake IDs
By The Associated Press | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, February 8, 2009

JACKSON (AP) — With Mississippi being the site of the nation's largest workplace raid on undocumented workers, lawmakers are trying to crack down on illegal immigrants who obtain false identification for employment.

A bill passed in the Senate and now headed to the House would enhance the penalties for illegal immigrants who create or use false ID.

Currently, a person convicted of those crimes could face up to three years in prison or a $5,000 fine. Under the bill, an illegal immigrant would face up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The bill also would make it a state crime to transport or shelter an illegal immigrant. Churches, charities, and other nonprofit agencies would be exempt from the law.

The legislation also directs the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to reach an agreement with the federal government to train state troopers on how to handle illegal immigrants.

Sen. Michael Watson, a Republican from Pascagoula, said last year's raid on Howard Industries revealed some of the practices surrounding illegal immigration in the workplace.

Nearly 600 workers at Howard Industries' transformer factory in Laurel were rounded up Aug. 25 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Nine people detained in the raid faced federal charges related to identity theft, according to court records.

"A lot of these things are in light of the bust last year," Watson said. "There were a lot of folks who were transporting those guys in from the border and driving them to their jobs and then giving them false identification."

Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who has been a strong advocate of anti-immigration laws, said lawmakers "need to send a clear message that crimes of that nature will not be tolerated in Mississippi."

But Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said the legislation is unnecessary because it duplicates federal law.

He also said ICE hasn't completed its investigation of the Laurel raid and Watson's comments were based on rumor.

"The purpose of the bill is to drive Latinos out of Mississippi," said Chandler.

Sen. Deborah Dawkins, a Democrat from Pass Christian, said illegal immigration is an issue that should be addressed, but she believes the bill is too harsh.

Dawkins was recorded as voting for the bill, but she thought she voted against it.

"When they are recruited to come, they don't even know they're supposed to do this and that and the other," Dawkins said of immigrants. "They get up in the morning and they are just trying to make some money to send home."

www.natchezdemocrat.com

Dawkins was recorded as voting for the bill, but she thought she voted against it.

"When they are recruited to come, they don't even know they're supposed to do this and that and the other," Dawkins said of immigrants. "They get up in the morning and they are just trying to make some money to send home."

Well then arresting them and sending them home sends a message...don't come to the U.S. illegally or you will get sent home....IT IS ILLEGAL! SENT THE MESSAGE through law enfocenent!