Posted on 12/25/2007 3:45:23 PM PST by BGHater
n the two years since immigration reform legislation stalled in Congress, many states have passed their own laws targeting illegal immigrants.
And soon Florida could join them.
Legislators have filed six bills that would, among other things, penalize farms and government contractors that hire undocumented immigrants or require local officials to report their arrests to federal authorities.
Come spring, legislators could debate whether to make it harder for an estimated 850,000 undocumented immigrants to live and work in Florida.
One of the bills, proposed by Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, would give local and state law enforcement the authority to arrest and charge smugglers transporting suspected illegal aliens.
"If this law prevents one smuggler from re-offending, I'll consider it a success," Snyder said earlier this year.
The Florida bills follow a trend of cities and states proposing local laws related to immigration.
The National Conference of State Legislatures reported last week that so far this year, more than 1,500 pieces of legislation were introduced in state legislatures. Of those, 244 became laws in 46 states, triple the number passed in 2006.
Nationally, the proposals touch predominantly on employment, law enforcement, drivers licenses and public benefits.
"Our federal government, in my opinion, has failed our citizens in dealing with the crisis of illegal immigration," said state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who filed two bills. "I went to an event today, and when I asked for questions, it was about taxes, but it was also about illegal immigration."
In Florida, Fasano and Republican Rep. Don Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, have filed three of the most comprehensive bills.
Fasano's proposals — Senate Bills 124 and 388 — would target agribusinesses and government contractors that employ undocumented workers. One also would require local governments and police to determine immigrants' status and enforce immigration laws.
Brown said he modeled his proposal House Bill 73 after a comprehensive and tough law that went into effect in Oklahoma in November.
If passed, it would force local officials to share information with the federal government about the legal status of immigrants. It also would ban so-called sanctuary policies, which some cities have used to stop the sharing of that information.
"I'm concerned about the sovereignty of the nation and the state," Brown said. "This country has an incredibly rich heritage of immigration. ... In recent years, we have allowed untold millions ... to come into the country" illegally.
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Nationally, activists opposed to illegal immigration view the state laws as a way to force undocumented immigrants to leave.
"The most significant part of the legislation is that illegal aliens are leaving those states in large numbers," said William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, based in North Carolina.
The new state laws bother advocates for immigrants.
Joan Friedland, immigration policy director of the National Immigration Law Center, said she worries about federal agents and local police working together outside of jails.
Such arrangements, Friedland said, could increase racial profiling and discourage immigrants from cooperating with police or asking for help.
Undocumented immigrants already are not eligible for most public benefits, said Tanya Broder, the law center's public benefits policy director. She said the state laws mainly require that people show documentation, which simply adds a hurdle for citizens.
"Colorado spent $2 million to implement their law," Broder said. "They had zero savings because there's no evidence that undocumented immigrants were getting services."
In Florida, however, activists opposed to illegal immigration like the proposals.
"There's a number of articles about how illegal aliens are moving out of Oklahoma," said David Caulkett, vice president for Floridians for Immigration Reform.
He said his group opposes illegal immigrants, not legal ones.
"Surprise, surprise," Caulkett said. "Enforcement works. I would expect the effects ... in Florida will be the same" as in Oklahoma."
Those preparing to fight the bills say undocumented immigrants are important to the state's economy and should be legalized.
"We are benefitting from their labor," said Sheila Hopkins, associate director for social concerns for the Florida Catholic Conference of Bishops in Tallahassee. "We need to pass immigration reform so these people have the opportunity to make it right."
John Horan, an Orlando attorney who represents clients in construction, said both sides have valid points.
"You have people justifiably saying these people have broken the law," Horan said.
But "by the same token you have 15 million people who are working and ... an unemployment rate of (only) a little over 4 percent. In Florida, it's much lower," said Horan. "The demand of labor is being met by the supply. The only problem is that the supply is not here legally."
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"I think there's a good chance that they would pass in Florida," Horan said. "This is a very important issue to the Republican base."
But Sean Foreman, an assistant professor of political science at Barry University in Miami Shores, said the "anti-immigrant" mood is not as strong in Florida as in mid-Atlantic states and the Midwest.
Florida's power structure has recently shifted from the northern part of the state to the south, Foreman said in an e-mail, adding that Republican Cuban-American legislators such as House Speaker Marco Rubio are likely to have more liberal views on immigration.
He also noted that Gov. Charlie Crist is also a moderate Republican. "Attempts at immigration reform in Florida will probably fall short," Foreman predicted.
Information from Congressional Quarterly was used in this report.
I've been shouting FORTY MILLION invaders for some time now... glad to get this backup from somebody that has better access to facts!
You know the more I thought about it if the only thing I said that you disagreed with was the number, I came close. Next time I’ll try a little harder to get you to think about the real problem. Make no mistake I did enjoy the comeback.
Okay nobody has an accurate figure on just how many illegals are in this country is that the only thing anybody cares about?” Access to the facts” how about the fact they are here. How about a real argument as in the real issue and not how many are or not here! Come on you are better than that! Show me!!
Okay I’m waiting for a decent reply from you! You disputed numbers I got from a news source but you disagreed with my statement and you could not reply to me personally? Whats up? The last person who took me on was the managing editor for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and we had a good time ( I did win). I enjoy feedback pro or con I love feedback let me hear yours directed at the source “me”.
How do I know so many of them are illegal? For one, my Wife works for the Driver licensing department... and they have seen a quintupling of false documents from the above illegals come into their department...and this scenario plays out throughout the state.
I travel to many places here on the left coast (and throughout the US for that matter) since i retired from traveling to the same venues... and I'm here to tell ya the amount of the "New People" aka illegals I've seen infest the areas I go to is astounding! This, and from my perusing the immigration problem via Discussions with those in the know, and from Folks I know who keep an eye on this situation...
It is indeed an INVASION!
BTW... Welcome to FReeepublic!
Glad to hear about a crackdown.
Hunter is the best candidate on Illegal Immigration.
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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts
Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
On returning to this thread, I see your posts weren’t directed to me... LOL! I was wondering why you said what you said to me... it’s ok, that happens a LOT here on FR!
Excellent!! Do it! Freidland is just another parasite lawyer making money off illegal immigration
Such arrangements, Friedland said, could increase racial profiling and discourage immigrants from cooperating with police or asking for help.
What bullshit. Illegals never help the police anyways. As far as racial profiling don't scam your way into America and complain about racism when we want to kick you out. We've been taking in 3rd world dregs for years. Enough is enough. Too many of our legal immigrants are uneducated third worlders. We need to admit educated English speakers. We need to select and choose immigrants, right now they are doing the choosing. We need to convince them it's too much hassle to jump our borders and to stay home instead
Ditto! I was asked where I got my 40 million from; I said that I calculated it at the debate and defeat of the amnesty bill in the Senate, in May ‘07.
I noticed that the traitors used the 12-20 million numbers differently. When they SHOUTED about the "big problem that required COMPREHENSIVE reform", they used the 20 million number. OTOH, when they "WHISPERED" about the "path to citizenship", they used the 12-6 million "eligible immigrants" number.
With a little psychology and cynicism about the traitors' selling techniques, I applied 100% LYING correction factor as a minimum on the high number (20 million) and allowed another 50% EVADING factor for "unaccounted for family numbers".
I arrived at an absolute minimum of 40 million invaders with a second correction of 50%, minimum, to reach 60 million.
This was arrived at by knowing our traitors and their selling (lying) techniques and their usage/presentation of bogus numbers.
I hope I’m wrong and that the numbers are lower. However, knowing our critters, I’m afraid it’s the higher numbers, unfortunately for all of us.
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