A bill recently approved by the Arizona Legislature would require city and county police agencies to have their officers tackle federal immigration violations.  The Associated Press reports that the Senate’s 20-9 vote last week finalized action on the bill; It goes next to Gov. Janet Napolitano.   

The bill would also prohibit county and city governments from having policies that prevent or restrict them from receiving or exchanging information about people’s immigration status in certain instances.  Those cases include determining the eligibility of people for public benefits that are off-limits to undocumented immigrants and confirming the identity of arrested people.  

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The comments in a recent open committee meeting from conservative legislators of the Texas Congress are making it clear: they’ll again push for strict state laws to crack down on undocumented immigration when the state lawmakers convene in January, according to The Associated Press.  Republican Rep. Debbie Riddle hinted at pushing legislation that would encourage local police departments to work with US officials to enforce federal immigration laws, an idea in line with what many conservative Texas lawmakers felt was missing from their 2007 Immigration Reform plan. That legislation provided funding for border security and law enforcement, but a proposed amendment of using local officers to enforce immigration laws failed to pass, largely for fear of constitutional challenge in court if passed.   

Republican Rep. Leo Berman told the committee he wants to see statewide legislation by 2009 requiring voters to show a photo ID to prove citizenship, as well as penalizing employers who hire undocumented immigrants.  Last session, Berman challenged the automatic citizenship provision of the US Constitution’s 14^th Amendment, contending that children of undocumented immigrants born on US soil aren’t entitled to US citizenship; lawmakers struck down the proposal.  

El Paso attorney Kathleen Walker, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, appeared before the committee and chastised the lawmakers’ use of the term "illegals" to refer as immigrants.  She warned against the practice of police stopping motorists simply because of the color of their skin or because they are driving certain types of vehicles.  "We’re talking constitutional principles today and the preservation of those principles," she said.  "We have to be cautious how we treat foreign nationals in this country."  The undocumented-immigration-focused police efforts, which legislation approved funding of last session, has drawn numerous protests from Latino rights advocates who say the police are using racial profiling.