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Legislative Update
A new Arizona law, considered to be among the nation’s toughest against employers who hire undocumented immigrants, went in to effect Jan. 1 after federal judges last week refused to block it. The New York Times reports that the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit deferred on a decision on an injunction until after the Jan. 19 hearing by Federal District Court Judge Neil Wake’s ruling on the case, provided a "decision is reached with reasonable conference." Wake struck down the injunction, stating that the law would not burden businesses in the short run.
Julie Pace, legal council for the business and civil rights groups that filed the suit, said they accepted the decisions and would now focus on Judge Wake’s hearing, but she predicted that having the law go into effect, with the possibility it could later be rejected, would cause more confusion.
For more information on the new Arizona law, see our analysis from our last issue at http://www.visalaw.com/07dec2/index.html.
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A new North Carolina law that went into effect last week allows police officers to expedited the process of arresting undocumented immigrants and begin removal proceedings. Charlotte , NC ’s News 14 reports that the 287 G program now requires all sheriff’s deputies to ask anyone arrested for a felony or for driving impaired if they are legal US citizens.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff George Wilhelm says his department already asks inmates about their citizenship, but this is the backup he needs from the state. He says he believes that about 5 percent of the inmate population, a number he says is too much. "Illegals(sic) in our country is a problem," said Wilhelm.
The Latin American Coalition in Charlotte worries that their clients are being specifically targeted with this new law. "There are certainly a lot of other individuals that are here from the other parts of the world that are undocumented and committing crimes," said Angeles Ortega-Moore, coalition director.
Sheriff Wilhelm hopes the law will show undocumented immigrants that North Carolina is tough on crime and prevent them from moving here. Ortega-Moore does not expect the law to stop them from moving to the state. "This doesn’t really solve anything," said Ortega-Moore. "Immigration reform will."
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Indiana appears to be the next state to seriously consider legislation that would place the duty of screening undocumented immigrants on businesses. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that such a bill is likely to be introduced in the state’s next General Assembly.
This comes at a time when Indiana ’s foreign-born population increased 41.3 percent, to 263,607, between 2000 and 2006, according to the Washington D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute. These figures rank the state 10th in the nation.
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