State legislation continues to target immigration

The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) reviewed state laws passed so far this year relating to immigrants and refugees. The group found at least 1,106 bills have been considered in 44 states as of March 31.

The top three areas of interest are law enforcement, employment and identification documents.

NCSL’s legislative tracking and reporting “is based on a comprehensive and inclusive methodology and captures all state legislation in which immigrants -- whether authorized or unauthorized, temporary migrants, aliens and refugees -- are affected.”

Twenty six states have enacted 44 laws and adopted 38 resolutions or memorials. This level of activity is comparable to last year, when 1,169 bills and resolutions had been introduced (as of April 13, 2007). At this time last year, 18 states had enacted 57 laws related to immigrants and immigration.

In Mississippi, Senate Bill 2988 requires every employer to register with and use the E-Verify program to verify the employment authorization status of all newly hired employees.

High-activity states -- where more than 21 pieces of legislation were introduced -- are Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

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For more: NCSL, (202) 624-5400; www.ncsl.org/print/immig/immigreportapril2008.pdf.

July 2008