How Can States Control Immigration?
Arizona
Arizona can control immigration in a number of ways. It can restrict unauthorized foreigners’ access to social services, it can penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants, it can enforce its own immigration laws, and it can enforce federal immigration laws. In addition, Arizona can revoke business licenses if a company hires an unauthorized alien. Several states have passed similar laws, and several others have attempted to prohibit foreigners from obtaining jobs or using consular ID cards.
The most obvious way that Arizona can control immigration is by criminalizing the practice. If a person is found to be in the country illegally, he or she may be charged with a misdemeanor. Alternatively, they could face imprisonment. For the first offense, they could be fined at least $100. The statute also includes additional penalties for unlawful hiring, harboring, and soliciting work by an unauthorized immigrant.
A more controversial method of Arizona control involves requiring police officers to ask for legal residency documents before stopping someone. Under the new law, anyone who is stopped for any reason without the proper document is subject to a misdemeanor. Law enforcement officers may also drop an inquiry for a number of reasons, including heavy call load, insufficient staff, and inadequate resources.
Arizona’s law has been roundly denounced as unconstitutional and racist. Many civil rights groups have filed lawsuits against it. Although the law has not yet been overturned, it has raised constitutional issues related to due process, unreasonable search, and equal protection.
According to the government, the statute does not violate the Constitution because Congress has given the executive branch substantial discretion to determine immigration policies. However, the Supreme Court has held that some provisions of the law are unconstitutional. As a result, some state courts have held that the law is preempted.
Before the Arizona law was even fully enacted, a preliminary injunction was issued by a federal judge. That injunction blocked some of the more aggressive elements of the statute. But the Supreme Court ruled against those sections, upholding the other elements of the legislation.
The law provides for subpoena power to county attorneys in certain investigations of employers. Additionally, it allows for a county attorney to issue a subpoena when an employer is in violation of the state’s immigration laws. Moreover, it requires law enforcement officials to verify the immigration status of individuals involved in arrests.
In the wake of the Arizona ruling, multiple lawsuits have been filed in federal court. One, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged several parts of the law. Another, by the Coalition of Latino Clergy, challenged the law’s equal protection clause.
While some dissenters acknowledged the wrongful arrests that occurred under the law, the majority of Justices sided with the administration. This was the case even before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Some other states, like Illinois and Michigan, have joined the boycott movement against Arizona.
Whether the Supreme Court agrees with the Justices’ decisions remains to be seen. In the meantime, various federal judges are likely to ask for a fresh argument on the issue.
Georgia
There are a lot of laws that govern the process of immigration in Georgia. This is largely because the state is home to a large immigrant population. While there are many who come to the country illegally, there are also a number of legal immigrants in the state. These are either lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or citizens with at least one immigrant parent.
In 2011, Georgia enacted a strict anti-immigration bill. The law was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature, and was modeled on Arizona’s SB 1070. The legislation created harsh penalties for providing false papers to undocumented migrants, and gave police the authority to demand immigration documentation from suspects. It also made it illegal to harbor or transport undocumented migrants.
Despite these harsh measures, the bill has had an unintended effect: it has decreased the number of workers available for farmers. According to the University of Georgia’s Center for Research on Human Population and Communities, nearly half of the people working in Georgia’s agricultural sector are not legally entitled to work. And because of the new anti-immigration law, farmers cannot hire enough foreign nationals to harvest their crops.
Agricultural labor shortages have caused $140 million in losses to Georgia farmers last year. Illegal immigrants are responsible for at least 40 percent of the total. Moreover, the law requires companies to register with the federal E-Verify program, and they are required to check their workers’ statuses before hiring them.
Georgia’s state government has created a separate board with the sole mission of punishing cities that are found to be in violation of the state’s illegal immigration laws. The board’s members are appointed by the governor. They are all political appointees.
Currently, three of the six board members were present when the board met on a recent December morning. One of these was a Decatur resident who filed a complaint against the city. He argued that the town was not a blue city in a sea of red, and had been accused of educating children from an immigrant population. Other cities have been forced to defend themselves against accusations.
Georgia’s new anti-immigration law has been the subject of many lawsuits, and it has already had some provisions blocked. One court ruled that the “papers please” portion of the law is unconstitutional. Another judge ruled that the law’s penalties were too harsh. But other provisions remain intact.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act was enacted to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States. The law aims to block illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits and to provide consequences for employers who hire undocumented workers. Aside from the new law, local and state governments are now offering aid to immigrants.
A federal solution for undocumented labor in the agricultural industry has been on the table for over a decade. However, it has been stalled by legislative opposition. Those opposed to the measure worry that the law will be unduly burdensome on employers once it takes effect.
When the bill was passed, Georgia had about 425,000 illegal immigrants. Many Georgians were concerned about the cost of providing public services to these individuals. At the time, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that about one-third of the state’s children had at least one immigrant parent.