Arizona’s sweeping new immigration law doesn’t even take effect until next month, but lawmakers in several other states including are already clamoring to follow in its footsteps.
Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Minnesota are singing the law’s praises, as are some lawmakers in other states far from the Mexico border such as and Nebraska. But states also are watching legal challenges to the new law, and whether boycotts over it will harm Arizona’s economy.
The law, set to take effect July 29, requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they think is in the country illegally. Violators face up to six months in jail and $2,500 in fines, in addition to federal deportation.
Lawmakers or candidates in as many as 18 states say they want to push similar measures when their legislative sessions start up again in 2011. Arizona-style legislation may have the best chance of passing in Oklahoma, which in 2007 gave police more power to check the immigration status of people they arrest.
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“If the feds won’t do it, states are saying, ‘We’re going to have to do it,’ ” said state Sen. Monty Pearce. Pearce’s second cousin is the author of the Arizona law, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, who, like Monty Pearce, is a Republican.
The debate is putting pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to act. In 2007, when states like and Kansas were making English their official languages as part of an immigration-related push, then-President George W. Bush failed to persuade even many Republican allies in the U.S. Senate to agree to combine increased border enforcement with a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
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In Idaho, Monty Pearce cited one county that paid more than $100,000 for medical services for an indigent illegal immigrant. Supporters of a citizen initiative in Nevada said they’re motivated by the state budget crisis and record unemployment.
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Also lining up against state-by-state legislation are business and agriculture groups. Brent Olmstead, lobbyist for Idaho’s $2 billion dairy industry, pledged to work to kill Arizona-style reforms in in 2011 just as he did to block past bills seeking to punish companies that hire illegal workers.
“The issue just gets more convoluted,” Olmstead said. “It sends a message that the Latino and Hispanic population isn’t wanted.”
source: http://right-mind.us/blogs/blog_0/archive/2010/06/26/74217.aspx
