1.     Openers

Dear Readers:

Over the past several days, immigration has returned to the headlines in a serious way. A few weeks back, we heard rumblings that the Democrats in the Senate would take up immigration this year, but many were not taking the talk seriously.

And then came Arizona. Most of you know by now that the Governor signed the controversial bill SB1070 which does many controversial things including making it a state crime for an immigrant to not have their documents proving legal status on them at all times and also permitting police officers to demand documents from any person an officer “reasonably” suspects of being an illegally present immigrant. The law doesn’t just apply to traffic stops as some have been assuming. It applies to officers making any “lawful contact” with an individual which covers just about every situation where a person is out in public.

The idea that police can ask anyone at any time to show their papers has shocked many and instantly made headlines around the world. Boycotts have begun against businesses in the state and a lawsuit has already been filed.

And the new Arizona law has also spurred Congress to accelerate its plans on immigration despite the political risks. However, as of now it looks like the Democrats are going to go it alone as the planned Republican co-sponsor of the legislation, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) walked away from negotiations.

On April 29^th, Democrats unveiled a 26 page outline of their planned comprehensive immigration reform bill, but have still not offered a date when the bill will formally be introduced. In this issue, we provide a summary of the Democrats’ outline in place of our usual ABCs of Immigration article.

I would encourage readers to visit my blog at http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind to keep up with the latest developments both on the comprehensive immigration reform bill and the Arizona law. I’ve been updating the blog several times a day to reflect the latest news.

And once a bill comes out, I’ll be summarizing the entire text section by section. The first place I’ll post it will be on my blog.

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Readers are reminded that they are welcome to contact my law office if they would like to schedule a telephone or in person consultation with me or one of my colleagues. If you are interested, please call my office at 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind