Skip to main content

State Legislatures and Immigration Law–Its All About the Politics

Image
By Becca
Today’s report from the National Council for State Legislatures on the 2009 legislation related to immigration provides a stark view into the minds of local politicos on the issue of immigration:

While national attention on immigration has declined, state legislatures are deliberating record levels of immigrant-related legislation. In the first half of 2009, state legislation related to immigration topped last year’s totals. So far this year, more than 1400 bills have been considered in all 50 states. At least 144 laws and 115 resolutions have been enacted in 44 states, with bills sent to governors in two additional states. A total of 285 bills and resolutions has passed legislatures; 23 of these bills are pending Governor’s approval and three bills were vetoed. No bills have been enacted in Alaska, Massachusetts, Michigan or Ohio.

One of the key elements of this report is the focus on how FEW of the states have issued resolutions in support of some type of immigration reform at the federal level–only 12 so far this year. So here you have the local politicos, with zero knowledge or understanding of the legal immigration system we currently operate under, proposing and passing legislation that affects us, our clients, and our businesses, yet these same politicos apparently are showing no interest in having this issue removed from their plates. This dichotomy speaks volumes about how local politicos WANT to use the immigration issue as an election platform issue. If state legislators were truly interested in resolving the immigration standoff in Congress, they would all march up to Capitol Hill in D.C. and demand that Congress act now on a comprehensive solution to this problem. Keep in mind that the consequences of a failure of reform are borne disproportionately by the states. So the states that bear the burden of immigration reform failure are lead by politicos who WANT to keep the failing system, in order to use the failure of Congress to act on immigration as a platform issue for local political gain.

This is a tragic, but not surprising development by state legislatures who would be better off spending their time in attracting business and people to their state, rather than chasing them away.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Are An Immigrant (even a US Citizen), Here Are 9 Things You Should Know

By
Are you a Naturalized U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, Visa Holder, or an Undocumented Immigrant? We recommend you take the following steps to protect yourself in our current version of America. The last couple of weeks have reminded immigrants, even naturalized U.S. citizens, that they were not born in the United States. Our office has received countless phone calls, emails, and social media messages from people worrying about what their family’s future in the United States holds. Most people want to know what they can do now to protect themselves from what promises to be a wave of anti-immigration activity by the federal government. Trump's Executive Order on Interior Enforcement has some provisions that should make most Americans shiver.  We recommend the following actions for each of the following groups: Naturalized U.S. citizens. In particular if you have a foreign accent, and you are traveling within 100 miles of any US Border (including the oceans
231 comments
Read more

Seven Reasons Why the Georgia Legislature Should Repeal HB-87

By
Recently the Alabama Attorney General called on the Alabama State Legislature to repeal parts of Alabama's horrid anti-immigration law ( HB 56), because of the "unintended" consequences of the bill (frankly, what happened was not unintended). Because of the similarity between the two laws, Georgia's Speaker of the House, David Ralston was asked whether Georgia Legislature would repeal part or all of HB 87, Georgia own anti-immigration law. HB 87 has caused almost a half a billion dollars in damage to the Georgia economy (along with untold suffering in Georgia's immigrant communities) without any noted or reported positive effect. Speaker Ralston plainly stated that the Georgia Legislature would NOT do anything to repeal HB 87 . While it understandable why a politician would not admit that a pet bill he shepherded and pushed through the state legislature was simply bad law, it is also clear that Speaker Ralston is facing a challenge on his RIGHT in th
1 comment
Read more

U.S. Recognizes Five-year Extensions of Venezuelan Passport

By
Venezuelans received welcome news this last month when the National Assembly published a decree signed by Interim President Juan Guaido on May 21, to extend the validity of Venezuelan passports for an additional five years past their printed date of expiration. The U.S. Department of State issued a  statement ,recognizing this extension for visa issuance and consular process. They also stated that Customs and Border Patrol would recognize this decree. Obtaining a valid Venezuelan passport has been a difficult, if not impossible, task that has been a source of much concern for those seeking visas to the U.S. or have pending applications for immigration benefits. This decree will allow those currently holding a Venezuelan passport that has expired to automatically add 5 years of validity from the expiration date. While this statement can provide much needed assurance, we recommend that Venezuelans who are currently applying for an immigration benefit, including travel to the U.S. w
Post a Comment
Read more