Immigration News & Analysis, Maggio & Kattar’s electronic immigration newsletter, offers up-to-date information and insightful commentary on U.S. immigration law and policy. Immigration News & Analysis is published monthly in an electronic format and is available via e-mail. Subscribe to Immigration News & Analysis.
“All Politics Is Local”: States and Cities Witness Complexity of Immigration Policy
In the wake of Congressional failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform, states and municipalities across the country are taking immigration matters into their own hands, considering legislative proposals and resolutions aimed at undocumented foreign nationals. According to the National Conference on State Legislatures, at least 1,400 pieces of immigration-related legislation have been introduced this year among the 50 state legislatures and 170 already have become law. In fact, almost all areas of states’ public policy are covered, including education, employment, health, human trafficking, identification and drivers’ licenses, law enforcement, legal services, public benefits, and voting. In some states like Virginia, where all General Assembly seats are on the ballot this fall, immigration has become a key statewide issue. States, counties, and municipalities are, however, running into the reality of how to fund such measures. For example, in Prince William County, Virginia, where one of the nation’s most aggressive local enforcement efforts was passed this summer, budget constraints have meant delays in implementation. In Riverside, New Jersey, an ordinance that penalized anyone who employed or rented to an undocumented immigrant resulted in thousands of immigrants relocating, wreaking havoc on the local economy. The ordinance was repealed. Similar laws have been repealed elsewhere. Additionally, lawsuits have enjoined other such measures. For example, the use of the federal E-verify database: Arizona apparently passed a bill requiring employers to use the new federal database to avoid hiring unauthorized workers, while lawmakers in Illinois passed a bill barring businesses from using the same database, saying it contained too many errors. (The Department of Justice recently filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking to invalidate the Illinois state law on the grounds that it conflicts with federal law.)
At the same time, stepped up enforcement by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has meant widespread raids and arrests throughout the country. While some enforcement activity has targeted criminals and fugitives - just last week some 1,300 people in Los Angeles were the target of the largest special enforcement action carried out by ICE - other activity has focused on the workplace. In both contexts, those apprehended are detained and often transferred to remote locations. Left behind are not only spouses and minor children - many of whom are U.S. citizens and legal residents - but also jobs many employers are unable to fill. A recent raid at eleven McDonald’s in northern Nevada resulted in boycotts of business, children too afraid to go to school, and general panic in the community. This has evoked the ire of mayors, superintendents of schools, and other civic leaders, not to condone undocumented immigration but to disapprove of ICE’s tactics and to recognize the short- and long-term negative implications for their communities.