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One of the most important and unsettling new trends
in immigration and integration policy is the federal deputization
of state and local officials to combat illegal immigration and the
recent proliferation of state and local laws and ordinances barring
illegally resident immigrants from working, obtaining housing, or
using public benefits.
This devolution of what was largely an exclusive federal responsibility has meant
that local mayors, county executives, city councils, police chiefs, sheriffs,
state troopers, state attorneys general, hospital administrators, housing inspectors,
emergency room workers, and ESL program coordinators (to name just a few) have
been pressed into the role of immigration law enforcement.
The Center’s work in this area is tackling the complex interaction of immigration
status with the attempts of states and localities to balance the competing interests
of immigration control, privacy, public safety, and public health in their communities.
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Recent MPI Analyses |
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Testing
the Limits: A Framework for Assessing the Legality of State
and Local Immigration Measures
By Cristina Rodríguez, Muzaffar Chishti, and Kimberly Nortman
Report, December 2007
Blurring the Lines: A Profile of State and Local Police Enforcement of
Immigration Law Using the National Crime Information Center Database 2002-2004
By Hannah Gladstein, Annie Lai, Jennifer Wagner, and Michael
Wishnie
Report, December 2005
America’s
Challenge: Domestic Security, Civil Liberties and National
Unity After September 11
By Muzaffar A. Chishti, Doris Meissner, Demetrios G. Papademetriou,
Jay Peterzell, Michael J. Wishnie, and Steve W. Yale-Loehr
Report, 2003
Authority
of State and Local Officers to Arrest Aliens Suspected of Civil
Infractions of Federal Immigration Law
Legal Memo submitted by MPI to the White House Counsel
June 11, 2002 |
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Did you know? |
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State legislatures from all 50 states introduced
more than 1,000 immigration-related measures in 2007. More
than 150 measures passed in 2007, three times more than 2006. While
these bills covered a wide variety of topics, many states focused
on education, employment, identification and driver’s licenses,
law enforcement, legal services, public benefits, trafficking,
and voting procedures.
Most bills introduced in 2007 targeted employment and local
enforcement initiatives, but measures addressing human trafficking
and family law had the highest success rates.
In all, 306 measures sought to expand the rights of immigrants,
while 256 contracted the rights of immigrants.
Texas, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia introduced the most state
measures. |
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What’s Happening |
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February 11
The Oregon Senate passed Bill 1080 to tighten driver’s license requirements.
Once Governor Ted Kulongoski signs the bill, it will be enacted into law. Read
the bill here.
February 8
A federal judge upheld Arizona’s employer sanctions law
prohibiting employers from hiring unauthorized workers and
revoking or suspending the business license of companies found
to be violating the law.
- Read the court decision here.
- Read the bill here.
February 1
The US Chamber of Commerce is challenging Oklahoma’s
immigration Bill 1804, which would ban employers from hiring
workers in the country illegally and would require contractors
working for the state to use the E-Verify program. The bill
is set to take effect in July.
January 31
A US district judge has upheld the Valley Park, MO, ordinance
that denies licenses to business violating federal immigration
law. Valley Park passed the ordinance in 2006.
- Read the judge’s order here.
- Read the ordinance here.
January 22
The city of Farmer’s Branch, TX, passed an ordinance
requiring renters to obtain a residential occupancy license.
Read the ordinance here. |
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Selected Readings
(List Under Development) |
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State and Local Enforcement of Immigration
Laws
By Michael J. Wishnie
University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 4 (2004):1084
Enforcing Immigration Law: The Role of State and
Local Enforcement
By Lisa M. Seghetti, et al.
Congressional Research Service Report to Congress, March
11, 2004
"Migration Goes Local: The Role of States in US Immigration Policy"
Symposium held at the New York University School of Law
NYU Annual Survey of American Law 58, No. 3 (2002): 283-293
State and Local Authority to Enforce Immigration Laws: A Unified Approach for Stopping Terrorists
By Kris W. Kobach
Center for Immigration Studies, June 2004
Strangers to the Constitution: Immigrants, Borders, and Fundamental Law
By Gerald L. Newman, 1996
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The
State Responses database is a unique, searchable online tool
that catalogues all 1,059 immigration-related bills introduced
in state legislatures in 2007, and allows users to search legislation
by state, geographic region, subject area, bill status, and
legislative typology. The database includes a synopsis of each
bill and is accompanied by a report,