NumbersUSA members were busy in 2011 pursuing state enforcement legislation and fighting pro-illegal alien bills. Thanks to their efforts, important enforcement bills passed in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina and Virginia. Members also stopped pro-illegal alien bills in Colorado, Nebraska and Oregon. We thought you’d appreciate learning about some of their hard-fought battles.
2012 will mark the second year in a row that Kansas State Democratic Leaders will introduce jobs legislation with an explicit immigration-enforcement component. The "Kansas Jobs First" plan would require state and local governments, and their contractors, to use E-Verify for vetting new hires.
2011 is coming to an end and many state lawmakers have their eyes on curbing illegal immigration in 2012. With several states -- Arizona, Utah, South Carolina and Alabama -- already paving the way, lawmakers in other states are looking for similar legislation to remove "magnets" drawing illegal aliens to their states.
Alabama’s unemployment rate fell at a record pace in November amid stepped-up efforts by President Barack Obama’s deputies to frustrate enforcement of the state’s popular new immigration reform.
The state’s unemployment rate fell 0.6 percent in November to 8.7 percent, according to new state reports, partly because the state’s employers opened up jobs to Americans after shedding illegal immigrants.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will be reviewing Arizona's S.B 1070 sometime next spring. A new telephone survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports, asked likely U.S. voters if they would support immigration-enforcement legislation similar to Arizona's in their state. Over 52% of voters said they would support the legislation. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed said they would oppose the legislation, and 15% more are undecided.
The Supreme Court announced today that it will be reviewing Arizona's widely known immigration-enforcement law, SB 1070. Arizona is asking the nation's top court to allow the state to enforce parts of the bill that have been blocked by lower courts at the request of the Obama administration.
When Arizona passed SB 1070 in April of 2010, it was only a matter of time before other states would also begin their own crackdowns on illegal immigration. States such as Alabama and South Carolina have since passed laws that prevent illegal aliens from jobs and public benefits. With Republicans now in control of the state legislature in North Carolina, efforts have begun to pass similar, statewide legislation to crack down on illegal immigration.
A challenge brought forward by an illegal-alien students and the group Casa de Maryland against an effort to put the Maryland DREAM Act on next year's ballot has been withdrawn. The plaintiffs will no longer challenge the sufficiency and number of petition signatures collected by MDPetitions.com that would place a repeal of the Maryland DREAM Act on the ballot.
An Oklahoma State Senator has proposed legislation to create a state guest worker program for illegal aliens. Senator Harry Coates of Seminole, Oklahoma submitted Senate Bill 995 last Monday. The bill is a response to House Bill 1804, which cracked down on illegal aliens across the state. The intention of the bill is allow illegal aliens to legally work in the state of Oklahoma, which Coates believes will provide a boost to sales and tax revenues.
The California DREAM Act, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in October, is going to cost taxpayers a lot more than originally anticipated. A new report by California's Legislative Analyst Office states that the DREAM Act will cost $65 million annually, much higher than the $40 million originally estimated by California's Senate Appropriations Committee. The cost is expected to rise annually until 2015-2016.
Legal Immigrants in Maryland are speaking out against the state's new law that will offer in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens. According to a report by the Washington Post, many legal immigrants in the state have joined forces with a group leading the effort to repeal the law through a ballot initiative.
Last Tuesday Utah joined Arizona, South Carolina and Alabama as states being sued by the U.S Justice Department for their respective immigration enforcement laws. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state of Utah in regards to House Bill 497. The Justice Department is arguing that Utah's immigration law is unconstitutional because it overlaps federal authority, and could potentially lead to the harassment and detention of American citizens and authorized visitors.
“Pearce would have retained his seat in a regular election,” said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, adding, “Probably the key factor to keep in mind is that the recall election occurred when only a half-dozen states were having elections. That allowed open-border forces to concentrate most of their money and energy on Pearce’s tiny Arizona district.
There were few competing requests for the money that was used to buy signatures to create the recall election and then run the outside-group advertising.”
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is pushing county commissioners to change a recently passed law that prohibits county police from responding to federal requests to hold illegal aliens if they're being held by the county police for another crime. Since the law went into effect in September, federal authorities have requested holds on 300 felons arrested by Cook County police.
Springfield City Council discussed the ballot language associated with the E-verify ordinance at its Monday night meeting.
Council also discussed when to put the issue to voters: either February 7 or March 6, 2012.
Earlier this year, the Ozarks Minutemen submitted enough signatures to force a public vote.http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=554587
OzarksFirst.com
The President for the Frederick County Board of Commissioners is saying that he wants to enact the toughest immigration policies in the state of Maryland. Blaine Young said he wants to make the county "the most unfriendly county in the state of Maryland to illegal aliens" and the county would "wear that with a badge of honor."
Roy Beck and Chris Chmielenski review state efforts to enforce immigration laws.
A new report from a Minnesota newspaper, the Austin Daily Herald, shows that enforcement measures taken at the local level are indeed reversing illegal immigration trends. A combination of factors, including police checking immigration status to businesses scrutinizing documents more during the hiring process, illegal aliens are finding it harder and harder to live in the state and are repatriating to their home countries.
Most folks are focusing on the 2012 elections now but it’s important to remember that a few states hold 2011 gubernatorial and state legislative elections. The results of some state legislative races, in particular, will influence whether certain states can enact in 2012 the immigration-enforcement legislation that failed this year.
The U.S. Justice Department has filed for a temporary injunction in federal court to stop South Carolina's immigration enforcement law from going into effect in January 2012. South Carolina's law, passed earlier this year, would require police officers to ask for proof of immigration status if they suspect an individual is in the county illegally. Similar to laws passed in Arizona and Alabama, South Carolina now faces the same fate as those two states - having to defend its law in federal court.
The New York City Council is considering an ordinance that would limit the ability fo Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and remove illegal aliens from the city correctional system. The policy would join New York with San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Jose who have already passed ordinances restricting ICE ability to work in their cities.
The District of Columbia became a sanctuary city on Wednesday after Mayor Vincent Gray signed a new order forbidding D.C. police to ask about an individuals immigration status. Furthermore, Mayor Gray said District police will not help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents execute federal warrants unless the individual has committed another crime.
On October 9, 2011 California Governor Jerry Brown signed three bills aimed at supporting illegal aliens, including AB 1236, a measure that outlaws E-Verify in the state of California. Many Californians have expressed frustration over the bill and Congressman Ken Calvert is one of them.
California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, who represents a section just west of Los Angeles, has filed paperwork to initiate a ballot initiative that would recall a bill signed into law last week by Gov. Jerry Brown that allows illegal aliens to receive state funded grants to be used for college tuition.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday, charging that South Carolina's new immigration law is unconstitutional. The law requires law enforcement to check the immigration status of all people that they detain, including those that are stopped for traffic violations. The ACLU and its allies are hoping to get a federal injunction to prevent it from taking effect. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson stood behind the law, saying, "We have a strong opinion this law is constitutional and we’re prepared to defend it to the U.S. Supreme Court if we have to.”
California Governor Jerry Brown had until midnight Sunday, October 9th, 2011 to act on measures that had made their way through the California Legislature and onto his desk. Brown certainly did not disappoint illegal aliens in his state and across the country, as he signed three bills into law that strongly reiterated California’s stance as a sanctuary state.
The federal government asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday to halt the Alabama immigration law. A federal judge earlier upheld two key provisions in the law that allow authorities to question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond, and let officials check the immigration status of students in public schools. The measure has already had an immediate impact.
Employers in Alabama's Marshall County are hiring new workers following the stepped-up federal and state enforcement of immigration laws. "It is amazing to see the effects" as illegal workers leave town, said Chuck Ellis, a member of Albertville’s city council. In Alabama’s Marshall County, "three in four [locals] endorse the fact that there’s something being done" by the federal and state governments. "Self-deportation is a real thing," Ellis said.
On Sunday, October 2, 2011, Roy was a guest on MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes". Roy was asked about Alabama's immigration enforcement law, but he also discussed the merits of Chairman Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act.
In 2008 the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch became the first municipality to pass an immigration enforcement law after the city council enacted a law that prohibited landlords from renting to illegal aliens.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn issued a major ruling today that upheld most parts of Alabama's immigration enforcement law that the state legislature passed earlier this year. The bill, which included mandatory E-Verify and a trespassing ordinance, was regarded as the strongest immigration enforcement bill passed at the state level.
Democrat State Senator Richard Moore and Republican State Senator Bruce Tarr have co-authored a massive illegal immigration enforcement bill in Massachusetts that the two lawmakers hope will come up for a vote during the current session. The bill would deny illegal aliens access to in-state tuition, overturn Gov. Deval Patrick's policy by requiring the state to join Secure Communities, and punishes employers who hire illegal aliens.
The California State Senate passed A.B.1236 earlier this week, sending the bill to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. The bill would prohibit counties and local municipalities in the state from requiring businesses to use E-Verify, futhering the need for House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act that would require all business in the U.S. to use E-Verify.
The state of Arizona, led by Gov. Jan Brewer, has filed an appeal with the United States Supreme Court, asking the court to consider the lower federal court rulings regarding its 2010 immigration-enforcement law. An Arizona federal district court and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that certain provisions of Arizona's law usurp federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Sixteen countries, including Mexico, have filed briefs supporting the Department of Justice's lawsuit against Alabama's recently passed immigration enforcement law. In June, the Alabama legislature passed a bill that many believe is tougher than Arizona's SB1070 bill that also drew a lawsuit from federal prosecutors last year. According to the attorney who filed the briefs, the 16 countries "want one immigration law and not 50."
A federal appellate court reversed its original ruling that found Hazleton's local ordinance requiring businesses to use E-Verify was unconstitutional. The court was instructed by the Supreme Court to revisit its ruling after upholding Arizona's statewide law earlier this year.
In June of 2011, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law restrictions against illegal immigration, considered by many political analysts as the toughest in the nation. Governor Bentley labeled the law as the “strongest immigration bill in the country.” However, as seen in most instances, church groups in Alabama are coming out publicly against the law and pushing for open-border measures. The President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, Mark Tooley, described the church’s belief as, “Any border enforcement is commonly derided as ‘militarization.’ And illegal immigrants are routinely likened to the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt, or Abraham searching for the Promised Land.”
The U.S. Justice Department, on behalf of itself, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and with consultation with the Department of Education, have filed a lawsuit in Alabama federal court challenging the state's efforts to enforce immigration laws. The lawsuit seeks an injunction before the law goes into effect on September 1 and states that the Alabama law undermines federal enforcement efforts of immigration laws.
For the first time in 20 years, Maryland voters will likely decide the fate of a bill passed by the state legislature and signed into law by its governor. A grassroots effort in Maryland has gathered enough signatures to suspend the law and add a referendum to repeal the law to the ballot this fall. The petition is still awaiting final certification by the state's Board of Elections.
States across the country have taken immigration enforcement into their own hands. From mandatory E-Verify to in-state tuition to driver's licenses and more, states are doing their best to discourage illegal aliens from settling in their states to ensure jobs and resources go to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants. But while some states try to discourage illegal immigration, other states are rolling out the red carpet. Bob Dane of the Federation for American Immigration Reform takes a look at the most welcoming places in America.
Delegates attending the Utah Republican State Convention approved a resolution supporting the repeal of Utah's recently passed bill that increases state immigration enforcement efforts, but also creates a guest worker program for illegal aliens already living in the state. The delegates passed the resolution 833-to-739.
On May 26, 2010 the Supreme Court decided 5-to-3 that states can punish employers who violate a mandatory E-Verify law. The court challenge was led by the U.S. Chamber of Congress against Arizona's 2007 law that suspends a business's license if they don't use E-Verify to check the eligibility of all new hires.
The most important national E-Verify bill ever introduced is expected to be announced tomorrow by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. After 15 years, the concept of every legitimate U.S. job going to an American (or legal immigrant already here) finally has a chance to make it into law, significantly helped by a giant change in the strategy of the nation's business lobbies.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has modified an Executive Order that requires agencies and contractors under the direction of the governor's office to use E-Verify. Gov. Scott signed the original order as one of his first acts in office. The new executive order strengthens the language requiring the use of E-Verify of subcontractors of state agencies.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley today signed legislation (HB 56) that requires the use of E-Verify by all employers in the state, and establishes eligibility checks for public-benefit applicants. The law gives Alabama some the strongest illegal-immigration enforcement tools in the country.
Amid a new round of politically charged rhetoric about illegal immigration, a divided Yakima City Council narrowly reversed itself Tuesday and approved the use of E-Verify over the objection of Hispanic community leaders.
The council voted 4-3 to require that contractors who do business with the city must verify the legal status of their employees by using the controversial federal employment-screening database.
