Delph's bill enters dubious territory
Jan 18, 2011 |

Given the storm that rages through Arizona over immigration, holding that state up as a model for Indiana legislation on this sensitive issue is a dubious exercise of leadership at best.

Tacking on a provision that has nothing to do with illegal immigration and everything to do with anti-Hispanic sentiment makes the latest proposal from state Sen. Mike Delph all the more troubling.

The Carmel Republican's bills dating back to 2008 have all had the fatal flaw of arrogating to the state a distinctly federal responsibility of policing the flow of people into the United States. Legal scholars have advised the Indiana General Assembly accordingly, and the Arizona stop-and-interrogate law has been partially blocked by the federal courts.

Delph, nonetheless, would have local and state law enforcement, as in Arizona, demand proof of citizenship or legal residency from anyone they stop for a law or ordinance violation and "reasonably suspect" to be in the country illegally. How this would be done without ethnic profiling, as the bill insists, is far from clear -- and understandably worrisome to those concerned about abuse of Hispanics, who are often subject to knee-jerk assumptions that they're undocumented.

It is hard to argue the legislation is not about Hispanics as such, considering it would make most government communication English-only. How discontinuation of the Spanish option in a state growing ever more cosmopolitan serves justice or commerce is, again, not explained.

Speaking of the economy, Delph's bill does offer the benefit of demanding a study of the cost of illegal immigration to Hoosiers. The research would be sorely lacking, however, if it did not extend to the financial upside of the undocumented population, in terms of taxes paid, consumer goods bought and work produced.

Is the business sector, which opposes Delph's bill, exploiting cheap labor at the expense of jobless legal residents? That question likewise awaits a quantitative answer. Meanwhile, authorizing the state attorney general to investigate, penalize and even close down businesses for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, as called for in Senate Bill 590, is another drastic step into federal territory.

Frustration over Washington's failure to deal with immigration is behind this and other state-level initiatives. The impatience is warranted. The hodge-podge of legally questionable "solutions" is not, especially in light of the limited resources and myriad other challenges states face.

Indiana's lawmakers, in particular, are enduring a months-long rainy day. They have no need to add a storm.

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