Immigration Issue Gains Momentum Across States

State GOP legislators from across the country have wasted no time in filing and promoting Arizona type immigration bills. It’s no surprise, we all knew they were coming. But neither will the outcome surprise us. These state laws, if approved and signed by their respective governors, will most certainly be challenged in court where they will make their way up the judicial ladder. Sooner or later the US Supreme Court will give them a hearing.

Other states are enacting laws that either enable the detention or help the prosecution of undocumented workers.  But in some states, like Nebraska, strict immigration laws are generating opposition from within.

This is a list of the states and stories making noise about immigration:

• South Carolina legislators are considering an anti-illegal immigration law similar to Arizona’s.
  The bill was up for debate in Senate Judiciary, but the meeting ended before senators could get to that issue.
  It would allow police to check the immigration status if an officer thinks a person is in the country illegally. The question could come after a suspect is stopped for something else.
• Wisconsin’s 72 counties are now members of a controversial program that connects state fingerprint databases with a federal immigration registry. The new federal program, called Secure Communities, says its foremost goal is the deportation of aliens convicted of serious crimes, but by the government’s own admission, a large percentage of the people taken into custody since the program began in 2008 had no criminal record.
  Local law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin commonly send fingerprints to the state, which in turn sends them onto the FBI database. What’s new about Secure Communities is that, as of Jan. 11, the FBI also forwards them to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.
• As Mississippi‘s Republican Gov. Haley Barbour serves his last term, and considers a run for president, he is preparing the state of Mississippi to take on the issue of immigration.
  Barbour said in a December interview that he believes it to be reasonable to allow local law enforcement to ask the immigration status of anyone they stop for traffic violations or other suspected offenses. He was quick to acknowledge the much-appreciated help of the immigrants that came to help restore the areas badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
• In Georgia a group of Democratic state senators plans to hold a series of public meetings to assess the impact of immigration on communities around the state.
  Sen. Curt Thompson, a Democrat from Tucker, who heads the Senate Special Committee on Immigration and Georgia’s Economy, described its mission as a listening tour.
  “We don’t have a particular bill we’re for or against,” he said Tuesday. “We’re not introducing legislation. We are aware that it’s a huge issue and we decided to go around to some of the affected areas.”
• A Nebraska state lawmaker has introduced a resolution aimed at countering another Arizona-style illegal immigration measure.
  State Sen. Brenda Council introduced her measure Tuesday. It says immigration is a federal policy issue between the United States and other countries — not Nebraska and other countries. It seeks to have Nebraska’s federal delegation help create “a workable immigration system.”
  The resolution makes reference to a federal immigration system that “separates Nebraska families, destabilizes communities and creates uncertainty, inefficiency and an uneven playing field for Nebraska’s businesses and economy.”
  Fremont Sen. Charlie Janssen’s bill would require police officers, when enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. It would also require non-U.S. citizens to carry documents showing their legal status.
• Maryland — 500 miles from Canada and 1,700 from Mexico — is far from the country’s borders. But that’s not stopping state politicians from taking up immigration reform. This morning, The Sun reported on how the federal government’s inaction on immigration has left it to Maryland and other states to develop policies. Estimates of the state’s population of illegal immigrants run as high as 250,000. Some lawmakers, including Baltimore County Republican Del. Pat McDonough, believe Maryland’s policies have made it a “sanctuary state.” He’d like that to change and says he is drafting 16 bills to crack down on illegal immigrants. One piece of legislation would require proof of citizenship to receive public benefits.