by Alex Meneses Miyashita
State legislatures have introduced more than 1,100 bills related to immigration this year, confirmed by a National Conference of State Legislatures tally.
The council identified 1,106 bills in 44 states during the first quarter of 2008. The level of state activity on immigration continues a trend that surged last year when more than 1,500 bills were introduced. So far 26 states have passed 44 of these bills, along with 38 resolutions.
“This is an unprecedented level of activity at the state level,” said Dirk Hegen, NCSL policy associate.
“We believe that we will see similar activity as last year. Some legislatures Between then and 2004, these fluctuated annually from 50to 100. In 2005, there were 300, in 2006 there were 570, and last year 1,562.
States with large Hispanic populations, particularly California, Florida, New York and Arizona, were classified as “high activity states,” having introduced at least 21 bills related to immigration. Texas did not hold a legislative session this year.
Immigration experts from both sides of the debate attribute the rising trend to the lack of federal action to pass reforms.
“It’s emblematic of the frustration that states are feeling with respect to the federal government’s failure to solve this problem,” assessed Marshall Fitz, American Immigration Lawyers Association advocacy director. AILA supports a comprehensive solution that addresses security and regularizing the status of the undocumented.
Bryan Griffith, spokesperson for the Center for Immigration Studies, agreed that a “unified federal response would be the best way to approach this policy issue.
“Anytime there’s a federal void, and state and local politicians are hearing that their constituents are complaining about an issue, they’re going to try to solve it,” he said.
The center supports enforcement policies that would gradually reduce the size of the undocumented population. Griffith added that so long as the federal government does not act, states are making the right decision by taking up the issue.
AlLA’s Fitz said it is a “disastrous way to approach it.” He noted that a number of “very punitive and counterproductive measures” have already passed and been enacted.
Recently the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law which Latino advocates say will disenfranchise large segments of voters.
In Pennsylvania, a state legislator introduced a similar bill this month.
The Louisiana House passed bills that criminalize transporting and harboring undocumented immigrants.
The county of Suffolk, N.Y., passed a law that requires all contractors to verify the immigration status of employees.
In Missouri, the state legislature approved legislation May 16 that will require proof of citizenship or legal status in order to access state benefits.
The legislation also punishes employers for hiring undocumented workers and requires state highway patrol officers to seek immigration training.
The state’s governor supports the bill, and had earlier threatened to call a special session if the legislature did not wrap up work on the issue before it adjourned.
In Arizona, House legislators tried unsuccessfully to override a veto by the governor to require police to get involved in immigration law enforcement.
Fitz said “most of the states and localities that have undertaken these efforts are finding that it is extremely costly, it’s extremely painful and divisive.”
The NCSL does not classify these bills as either “restrictive” or “expansive.
The most common policy areas identified by the conference that are tackled by states in relation to immigration are law enforcement, employment and identification documents.
While many of the bills address undocumented immigration, others address the integration of immigrant communities.
Hegen, from the NCSL, said that states have always been active in offering services and addressing the needs of new immigrants, adding that “it’s only lately in the absence of a federal solution that states are looking at other policy arenas, like law enforcement and most notably maybe the employment arena.
Experts predict active state involvement with immigration matters will continue in the foreseeable future.
“We certainly hope the federal government steps up to the plate in 2009,” Hegen said. Hispanic Link.
