Thread: Wyoming lawmakers push to tighten immigration law

Wyoming lawmakers push to tighten immigration law




Associated Press - January 29, 2008 7:55 PM ET

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming might become the latest state to try to enact strict immigration control laws in the absence of federal action on the issue.

Some Wyoming lawmakers are pushing an immigration bill that would make it a felony to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant.

Sponsors of the Wyoming legislation say they want to protect legal workers in the state from being undercut by illegal competition.

It would take a two-thirds vote for the bill to get a hearing in the legislative budget session that begins February 11th.

Representative Dan Zwonitzer is 1 of the bill's co-sponsors. He says it's modeled on a state law that went into effect in Oklahoma last year.

Zwonitzer says he views the bill as pre-emptive for Wyoming. He says illegal immigration is becoming a more serious problem in states closer to the southern border and says it's only a matter of time before it becomes are larger issue in Wyoming.

Critics of the Oklahoma law say it has terrorized Hispanics there and driven thousands of people, including both documented and undocumented workers, from the state.

http://www.kswo.com/global/story.asp?s=7793267

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 30, 2008 :: Last modified: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 2:06 AM MST


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Bill backers say Wyo could become haven




By The Associated Press

CHEYENNE -- State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, said he strongly supports allowing immigrant workers into Wyoming with proper documentation.

But he said he doesn't want the state to become a haven for illegal immigrants dispossessed by stricter laws being enacted in other states.

"More and more people I talk to, it's becoming a problem in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado," Zwonitzer said of illegal immigration. "You don't see it so much in Wyoming, but just look on a map: It's going to get here."

Zwonitzer is one of the co-sponsors of a bill that would make it a felony to harbor or transport illegal immigrants. He said he views the proposal as a pre-emptive measure for Wyoming.

Rep. Owen Petersen, R-Mountain View, is another co-sponsor of the Wyoming bill.

"I think that it will actually benefit the people who have legal status here in the state," Petersen said of the proposal. "The illegal ones, I think yes, there's a good chance that they will depart from the borders of the state of Wyoming."

The bill is modeled after a contentious, new Oklahoma law.

The nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver recently reported that many states are rushing to tighten their state immigration statutes in the absence of federal action on immigration reform.

As of mid-November 2007, the NCSL reported more than 1,500 pieces of legislation related to immigrants and immigration had been introduced among the 50 state legislatures. That marked an increase of roughly 2.5 times more bills than were introduced in 2006.

And when one state tightens its laws, nearby states apparently feel compelled to act as well to avoid receiving a flood of displaced immigrants.

Republicans in the Iowa state Senate on Tuesday unveiled a plan to crack down on illegal immigration in that state, saying the move was needed because the federal government had failed to act.

The Iowa Republicans noted that other states, including Oklahoma, had already moved ahead with similar reforms as federal lawmakers struggle to pass a comprehensive plan.

Critics of the Oklahoma law, however, say it has terrorized Hispanics there and driven thousands of people -- documented and undocumented workers alike -- from the state.

Guillermo Rojas is editor of the Tulsa weekly newspaper La Semana del Sur and a member of the Governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic and Latino Affairs in Oklahoma.

Rojas said Tuesday that he would call on Hispanics in Wyoming to fight any similar legislation here before it's enacted.

"The only thing that's happened, it's scared the Hispanics," Rojas said of the new law's effect in Oklahoma. "Almost 25 percent of the Hispanic population has left the town -- not only the undocumented people. Because some families, they have documented and undocumented people."

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders has challenged the Oklahoma law in federal court. The group has been unsuccessful so far.

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