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State Immigration Law Impacts on the MEP

The major change in state immigration laws started in 2010 in Arizona. During 2011, several states created laws that are directly related to immigration. Many of these laws focus specifically on workers. So far in 2011, 12 states have enacted laws that require additional enforcement provisions. Four states created laws that benefit immigrants and more than half of the other states are currently considering enforcement measures similar to the controversial law passed in Arizona.i

Summary of the New Laws of 2011

Montana- Requires proof of legal status before receiving a state issued ID and prohibits "sanctuary cities". A bill to require legal status in order to receive social services failed but lawmakers are not having voters decide through a referendum.

Rep. David Howard, R-Park City (sponsor), said the bill to prohibit sanctuary cities is intended to prevent cities from enacting policies that would violate federal law. “It’s very important in America that we defend the rule of law,” Howard said. Supporters said the law is necessary to ensure communities follow federal requirements. Opponents said it is an issue of local control and priorities.ii

Utah- The legislature adopted an Arizona style bill that also included measures to allow undocumented workers to obtain work permits if they register and pay taxes. Some view this law as a possible guide for immigration reform nationwide but a judge has already blocked the law following a lawsuit.

A federal judge blocked a Utah immigration law that would have allowed police to check the citizenship status of anyone they arrest, citing its similarities to the most controversial parts of an Arizona law that seems bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups issued his ruling in Salt Lake City just 14 hours after the law went into effect, saying that there is sufficient evidence that at least some portions of the Utah legislation will be found unconstitutional.iii

Arizona- This year legislators voted to make school districts track students residency so Mexican children don't cross the border to attend U.S. schools, expand the border fence with state and private funds, end Mexican consular ID acceptance and toughen human trafficking penalties.

The president of Arizona’s Senate and author of hardline laws against illegal immigration lost a recall election seen as a bellwether on “extreme” politics in November. Republican Russell Pearce lost by about 53 percent to 45 percent, according to the Maricopa County Elections Department. Pearce, 64, was defeated by Jerry Lewis, a Republican school administrator who has said he opposes Pearce’s enforcement-only approach to immigration policy.

“There is a deep dissatisfaction in Arizona for what is viewed as politics in the extreme,” said Earl de Berge of the Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center, a nonpartisan polling company. Pearce “symbolizes a very hard-nosed view on conservative policies.”

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Pearce championed rigorous laws on illegal immigration, including a 2010 measure that sparked national boycotts and was emulated by Georgia and other states. That law, mostly put on hold by a federal court, requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. He also helped push through a ban on benefits for undocumented immigrants and penalties for those that hire them.

Pearce, the first state officeholder in Arizona to face a recall, said he didn’t regret taking controversial positions.iv

Minnesota- The governor scrapped a provision from 2008 requiring state agencies to use E-Verify to check the immigration status of new hires. Then the legislature reinstated the policy applying it to businesses that have over $50,000 of services to the state.

Louisiana- Penalties were boosted for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers. Contractors working for any project for the state have to verify the citizenship of any workers working on state projects.

Alabama- Two provisions of a tough new immigration law just went into effect but one has been blocked. Authorities are now allowed to question people suspected of being in the country illegally but a federal appeals course struck down the part of Alabama's law that required schools to check the immigration status of students. The law also makes transporting undocumented immigrants a crime.

Georgia- Governor Deal signed a law allowing police to check the immigration status of a suspect who cannot produce an acceptable ID. Most employers must use the federal database to ensure workers are here legally.

South Carolina- Bill requires police to check suspects’ immigration status and mandates all businesses check their hires through the federal database.

The federal government filed a lawsuit in November seeking to stop implementation of South Carolina's tough new immigration law, arguing that the legislation that requires law officers to check suspects' immigration status is unconstitutional. The government wants a judge to stop enforcement of the legislation, which requires that officers call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally following a stop for something else. South Carolina's law, which takes effect Jan. 1, also mandates that all businesses check their new hires' legal status through a federal online system. Businesses that knowingly violate the law could have their operating licenses revoked. The law says all law enforcement officers are required to call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally. The question must follow an arrest or traffic stop for something else. The measure bars officers from holding someone solely on that suspicion. Opponents railed against the measure as encouraging racial profiling.v

Sixteen Latin American and Caribbean nations on Tuesday, Nov 8th asked to join the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against South Carolina’s new illegal immigration law amid fears it would lead to their citizens facing state-sanctioned discrimination.

Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile were among the nations filing papers Tuesday, asking to join the litigation filed by the Justice Department last week in Charleston.

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In the complaint, federal lawyers asked the court to stop the state from enforcing a law that takes effect in January. The measure would require law officers who make traffic stop to call federal immigration officials if they suspect someone is in the country illegally. The measure bars officers from holding someone solely on that suspicion. Opponents railed against the measure as encouraging racial profiling.vi

North Carolina- Bill was passed to end the use of Mexican Consular ID's. All employers of more than 25 workers are required to use the E-Verify system with exceptions of those who hire seasonal workers.

Virginia- The General Assembly voted to require certain state contractors to check employee immigration status through a federal database, create an information exchange on interested border states to track criminals and require proof of legal status for state ID's.

Tennessee- Governor Haslam signed legislation that requires most employers to use the federal E-Verify program to prove their employees are legally in the country.

Indiana- The legislature passed an Arizona-style law, but a judge blocked part of the legislation, saying it gave police too much leeway in arresting immigrants. The judge also blocked a section that made illegal the use of identification cards issued by foreign consulates.

Maryland- The Democrat-led legislature passed a law extending in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. Republican lawmakers are mounting a petition to drive to repeal it in 2012.

Illinois- The governor signed into law the creation of a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrant college students.

Connecticut- The Democrat-controlled legislature voted to extend in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants in post-graduate programs.

Vermont- The Democrat-dominated legislature passed a proposal to study whether its new health care plan should cover undocumented immigrants when it takes effect in 2017. A measure to ban undocumented immigrants from being covered under the new plan failed. (Press, 2011)

More Lawsuits?

A war has ignited between the Justice Department and several states over their controversial new immigration laws, and Republican senators are stepping into the fray, looking to prevent the Obama administration from challenging these laws as unconstitutional. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)—with cosponsors Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and David Vitter (R-La.)—will soon introduce legislation that would prevent the Justice Department from filing lawsuits against the state laws.

At issue: a slate of harsh, new, GOP-authored immigration laws in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, and Utah that are largely modeled on the controversial immigration measure passed in Arizona last year. That law made it illegal not to carry one's immigration documents gave law

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enforcement officials the green light to detain anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant, and made it a state crime to reside in the US illegally.

Since then, various states have approved copycat laws, attempting to dictate immigration policy in lieu of comprehensive federal reform. And the feds have struck back. The Justice Department sued Arizona over its law, and the more controversial elements were blocked by a US district court. A federal court in Alabama, meanwhile, has blocked parts of that state's law. And in October, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against South Carolina, whose bill is scheduled to go into effect January 1.

Sessions, DeMint, Vitter, and their supporters argue that when it comes to immigration, the federal government has fallen down on the job, forcing the states to step into the breach. They blast the DOJ's actions as an egregious assault of states' rights. Vitter calls the DOJ challenges nothing but "politically driven lawsuits." The agency, Sessions says, "needs to stop going after states that are taking steps in harmony with federal laws to see that our immigration laws actually are enforced."

The law passed in Sessions' home state of Alabama is widely regarded as even harsher than Arizona's. It blocks undocumented immigrants from receiving state or local public benefits, prevents them from enrolling in public colleges, bars them from renting property, and requires public school officials to verify their students' immigration statuses.

To investigate whether the law violates the Civil Rights and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act—which gives US resident children the right to attend public school regardless of nationality—Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez requested access to enrollment records in the state's school districts with large Latino populations and information on students who may have withdrawn from school since the law went into effect. But Alabama officials refused to comply with the request, arguing that the feds have "no legal authority to compel production" of education records. State Attorney General Luther Strange instructed Alabama education officials not to cooperate, and he asked Perez to prove he possessed the authority to request state education records. "Otherwise, I will assume you have none, and will proceed accordingly," Strange wrote to Perez.

Sessions' bill would codify the states' intransigence. "It's hard not to see this as bell-whistle politics, this kind of call to let the states go their own way," Marshall Fitz, the director of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, says. "The only reason they're doing this is to say, 'We stand with Alabama,' 'We stand with Arizona,' and 'We stand with South Carolina.' And by doing that, they're emboldening the kind of nativism that has unfortunately led to a moral and humanitarian crisis that we're seeing in Alabama right now."

Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an immigration reform group, says that Sessions' proposed bill smacks of hypocrisy. "Sessions, Vitter, and DeMint are three of the senators most responsible for stopping federal immigration reform. Then they blame Washington for not solving the problem and defend states for taking federal law into their own hands," Sharry says.

Fitz and Denise Gilman, an immigration law expert at the University of Texas, fully expect the DOJ standoff to reach the Supreme Court. "The Justice Department felt it had to step in and engage in some litigation, both as a means of communicating the federal government's position on this kind of legislation…and to resolve the legal issue. The Supreme Court will determine what is permissible and what is not permissible for states to do in terms of immigration policy," Gilman said. vii

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Who is behind the laws?

Alabama and Arizona have some of the toughest immigration laws in the country. Behind both states' laws, and many others, is Kris Kobach, a constitutional lawyer and the Kansas secretary of state.

Kobach has helped several other states shape immigration legislation, and he says there's more to come in 2012. A graduate of Harvard, Oxford and Yale, he was a White House fellow and chief immigration adviser to then Attorney General John Ashcroft after the Sept. 11 attacks. His credentials undoubtedly make him the most famous Kansas secretary of state — and deified by supporters.

What put Kobach on the national radar was Arizona law SB 1070, which he helped draft. It allows police to demand citizenship papers if there is "reasonable suspicion" of illegal status during routine arrests. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that most states have immigration bills or resolutions. Kobach has worked with several states to craft them, including Georgia, Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Kobach was elected in November 2010, and now he says he spends only five to 10 hours a week — on nights and weekends — on immigration issues. He has said he wrote a draft of the Alabama law — most of which a federal judge recently upheld — on his laptop in a turkey blind. It's a lucrative avocation: Official documents from Arizona indicate that he made $300 an hour with a $1,500 monthly retainer, plus expenses.

"Kris Kobach is the driving force, really, behind the tactics we're seeing out of the anti-immigrant lobby right now," says Heidi Beirich with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Beirich says Kobach's ideology has created the political space for extremism to grow.

Even with this week's ruling blocking some provisions, the Alabama law is still considered the strictest in the nation. Beirich says Kobach is leading a strategic anti-immigrant crusade, which she says has a racial element. “His decision to first start at the local level with laws in towns that were going through some strife over growing immigrant populations, and then take that to the state level, shifted the entire terms of the debate," Beirich says.

Kobach says he simply wants immigrants to come to the country legally. “There is no question that respect for a nation's immigration laws is something every sovereign nation on the face of planet demands. There is nothing racially motivated about saying, 'We have our immigration laws, and we would like them enforced,' “Kobach says. viii

Effects on Farm Labor- A Sample of Articles

Utah- Several states around the nation have enacted laws to crack down on illegal immigration, but farmers left with empty fields are becoming the victims of unintended consequences. And experts say the labor shortage could shrink Georgia's economy by nearly $400 million.

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Despite unemployment and a $10.48 hourly rate, which is above $3 more than minimum wage, grower Curtis Rowley can't find enough local workers. "It would be really nice to walk into town and say we need 15, 20 guys," said Rowley of Cherry Hill Farms. "We end up spending a lot more money because it costs money to bring people from Mexico.

Rowley participates in the federal program called H-2A, which allows foreign workers to enter the United States to make up for the lack of able and willing American workers. However, the H-2A program is not cheap. To qualify for the program, Rowley had to prove he tried to hire American workers, using advertisements in four local states. He also has to obtain the visas for his workers and cover their transportation and housing. Taking that all into account, Rowley's labor costs have increased by nearly 50 percent.

"You are planning four to six months in advance, and not knowing what Mother Nature is going to give you," Rowley said. Men and women outside the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Mexico stand in line for hours, hoping their number will be called for work. "There is more opportunity to earn a better living," said one unidentified worker. "They pay a better wage."

Fewer than 5 percent of U.S. farms use the H-2A program, but the current system is still overloaded with requests. I hope they can take a step back and learn the issues and want to really look at the big picture. Something clicked inside me that said, ‘The only way to make something work is if we educate people,' " Rowley said.

Rowley is planning to meet with as many legislators as he can to explain why the H-2A program is not working. He strongly supports the guest worker program in Utah, as does the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. "There's great value to immigrants as workers, as taxpayers, and one that is much over-looked, as consumers," said Wesley Smith of the Salt Lake Chamber.

"I hope they can take a step back and learn the issues and want to really look at the big picture," Rowley said. As a farmer, Rowley never expected to get caught up in politics, but the future of his farm now depends on immigration reform.ix

Alabama-The new Alabama law that grants local authorities broad powers to crack down on illegal immigrants is sending shock waves across the state. The law allows local police to detain without bail immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally and requires schools to verify the immigration status of new students. Those found to be here illegally risk being deported to their native countries.

A federal judge in September upheld key components of the statute, allowing much of the law to go into effect. A number of Hispanic families, both legal residents and those in the country illegally, fled Alabama for other states in the cover of night, leaving behind homes still filled with furniture, TVs and refrigerators stocked with food.

The exodus has left a sizable gap in the pool of workers and day laborers crucial to industries across the state. Farmers in northern Alabama, construction workers trying to rebuild Tuscaloosa from tornadoes this year and coastal businesses all have reported massive worker shortages. Earlier this month, 7% of Hispanic children in the state — about 2,300 students — did not show up for classes.

The law already is leading to arrests. At least six people have been arrested by local police for not having proper immigration documents. Supporters of the law argue that Alabama is taking

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necessary steps to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants into the state — something the federal government has failed to do.

Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, a Republican, says he cringes when he hears the law compared to Jim Crow laws, state and local laws that targeted African Americans in the South decades ago and were eventually repealed.

"There's a big difference," Hubbard says. "In that time, it was the federal government making the states do what was right. In this case, it's the state of Alabama trying to make the federal government do what's right. We're not targeting any particular race. The people who are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens just don't like having someone in the state that’s in the country illegally."

Alabama's immigration law highlights what President Obama has described as a dangerous "patchwork" of immigration laws across the USA as more states tackle the subject and federal judges issue sometimes conflicting rulings. The issue could be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. Arizona's blocked law could provide that forum; the high court is expected to decide whether to take up the case later this year.

The law is being felt most deeply in places such as Russellville, a hill town in northwest Alabama that has seen a surge of Hispanic residents.

Workers from Mexico, Guatemala and other Latin American countries began arriving more than a decade ago to work at nearby poultry plants. Families followed and found jobs, Mayor Troy Oliver says. They opened businesses, too, filling downtown with Mexican bakeries, Guatemalan gift shops and Spanish-speaking income tax law firms.

Today, Hispanics make up about one-third of the city's 9,830 residents, Oliver says. They contribute significantly to sales tax rolls, which pay for nearly half of the city's $8.5 million annual budget, he says. Since the law took effect, Oliver has met with Hispanic groups, answering questions and trying to quell fears of a crackdown.

The law puts Oliver and other local officials in the precarious position of reassuring Hispanic residents while fulfilling their legal obligations. Last Wednesday, Oliver walked through the city's mostly shuttered downtown, greeting Hispanic families on the street and urging them to keep their children in school.

"We are going to enforce the law. We're sworn to do that," he says. "But we're not going to do it the point where we're abusive to anyone. We're not going to get into racial profiling."

Enforcing the law could be tricky. One of the key questions local police departments face is how to determine "reasonable suspicion" that a person is in the country illegally, as worded by the law, analysts say. "This has the potential to have U.S. citizens and legal residents being arrested for nothing," says Neville Cramer, a former federal immigration agent who consulted with Arizona authorities as they developed an officer training curriculum under a similar law.

The law also could bring economic ramifications. Businesses most at risk include construction firms, poultry processors and farms, many of which previously relied on undocumented workers for labor

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A key argument of the law's supporters is that departing undocumented workers will create job openings that Alabamians can fill, says Jay Reed, president of the Alabama Associated Builders and Contractors, a Birmingham-based trade group representing 700 construction companies and subcontractors. But his group has been trying to recruit locals into construction jobs for years: Many just don't want them, he says.

"Immigration reform is certainly needed," Reed says. "But a far-reaching piece of legislation that drives workers out of the state through racial profiling is not the way to do it."In Russellville, word of the new law rattled families living at Creekside Rentals, a 100-unit mobile home park in the south side of town. About 75% of the families are Hispanic, says Greg Parrish, the park's owner. Six families moved out overnight, leaving behind furniture, family photos and closets full of clothes.

Parrish says he fears more will go soon, even though he has tried to persuade them to stay. Without Hispanics, the park — and many other city businesses — will quickly close, he says.

"Fifteen years ago, Russellville was a dead town," Parrish says. As Hispanics moved in, "everything started booming. They put a lot of money back into the community. If they leave, Russellville's going to be hurting big time."

The day after a federal judge upheld key provisions of the law, 79 Hispanic students skipped classes at Russellville's four public schools — nearly four times the normal number, says Rex Mayfield, the superintendent. The numbers alarmed Mayfield enough to call a student meeting that day in the high school's auditorium, where he explained the law and urged students to calm their parents' fears. About 800 of the schools' 2,400 students are Hispanic.

Maria, 34, an undocumented native of Guatemala whom USA TODAY is identifying only by her first name because of her immigration status, has kept her 11-year-old daughter home from school several times since the law passed. She says she's terrified of being separated from her daughter and 1-year-old son and deported without them.

She says she applied for permanent residence status in 2000 and is still awaiting an answer. Both her children were born in the USA and are citizens.

She leaves her home only to make quick trips to the local Catholic church, the only place that quiets her anxiety. "I have faith in God," she says. "He's the only one who empowers us."

Others have applied for visas but are still waiting or raising money to finalize the transactions.

It took Russellville resident Angelica Perez, 21, two years and $14,000 in attorney, travel and filing fees to land a green card for her husband.

"It's not as easy as it sounds," says Angelica Perez, who was born in Alabama to Guatemalan parents and is a U.S. citizen. "There are so many people who come here just to better their lives. This law is flipping our world in so many ways."

Not everyone in Russellville opposes the new law. Paul Bragwell, 73, owner of City Barber Shop, says he gets along with most of his Hispanic neighbors. But if they've entered the country without going through the legal channels, they should be prosecuted, he says. “If they come here illegally, they're no different than other criminals," Bragwell says.

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The Pollo Loquillo restaurant downtown has always enjoyed a bustling lunch crowd. Lately, however, the restaurant has been nearly empty around noon. The lunchtime crush has been replaced by a rash of daily take-out orders — residents afraid to leave their homes are instead phoning in their broiled chicken orders, manager Juan Carlos Sanchez says.

Parrish, the trailer park's owner, says it's hard watching the departure of families he has known for years and seen their children grow up. Those families worked hard, paid their rent on time and went to church each week. They're exactly the type of people Alabama should be trying to keep, he says.

"The people who put this law into effect didn't understand what it will do from the ground up," Parrish says. "It's going to end up causing a lot more trouble than they know."

Washington-YAKIMA, Wash. — Apple growers say they could have had one of their best years ever if a shortage of workers hadn't forced them to leave some fruit on trees. Growers in Washington state, which produces about half of the nation's apples, say the labor shortage was made worse by a late start to their harvest. The growing season got off to a slow start because of a cold, wet spring, and some migrant workers didn't stick around to wait for it.

But farmers say an immigration crackdown by the federal government and states such as Arizona and Alabama scared off many more workers. They have tried to replace them with domestic workers with little success and inmates at a much greater cost. Many growers have resorted to posting "pickers wanted" signs outside their orchards and asking neighbors to send prospective workers their way.

Jeff Pheasant and his sister Darla Grubb are the fourth generation in their family to grow apples near Soap Lake, about 120 miles east of Seattle. They said their harvest was a week behind because the fruit wasn't ripe, then another week behind because they had no workers to pick it.

Pheasant Orchards usually has 65 workers at the peak of harvest. Only 50 pickers arrived this year, and many were inexperienced, Pheasant said. “You have to have people," Grubb said. "They're the reason we have fruits and vegetables. We couldn't do this without our workers."

About 15 billion apples are picked in Washington each year, all by hand. Orchards line the hillsides and valleys east of the Cascade Range from the Canadian border in the north to the Columbia River in the south.

Growers have struggled for years with labor shortages, but they say this harvest season is one of the toughest yet. Typically, about 70 percent of the state's farmworkers are in the country illegally. But many Mexican and other migrant workers stayed away this year after some states passed tougher immigration laws and the federal government cracked down.

"We've been dealing with this for a number of years now, and until something changes at the federal level, growers are going to struggle having enough workers," said Mike Gempler, a farm labor contractor for Washington growers.

Governor Chris Gregoire assembled a delegation of 15 farmers last month for a trip to Washington, D.C., where they urged Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform. At the time, Gregoire

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estimated the state still needed 4,000 workers to complete the harvest, which could have been the third-largest in state history.

"We've been dealing with this for a number of years now, and until something changes at the federal level, growers are going to struggle having enough workers," said Mike Gempler, a farm labor contractor for Washington growers.

"Our problem now is: How do we get it off the trees?" Gregoire said. "We don't have a work force, and that is at the doorstop of the federal government."

Farmers in other states also are struggling with a labor shortage. A Georgia pilot program matching probationers with farmers needing harvesters had mixed results. Some Alabama farmers tried hiring American citizens after the state's new immigration law chased away migrant workers, but they said the new employees were often ready to call it a day by mid-afternoon. Many quit after a day or two.

In Washington, a state office that matches workers with available jobs posted hundreds of openings at orchards with few takers, and many farmers complained that those who did apply were too inexperienced.

Some critics say growers would have enough workers if they paid more. Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country at $8.67 per hour. Apple pickers are often paid based on how much they pick, but they're guaranteed at least minimum wage.

Erik Nicholson, Pacific Northwest director for the United Farmworkers of America labor union, said that's not enough to attract a steady labor supply.

A growing number of farmers have turned to a federal guest-worker program to bring in foreign workers, despite longstanding complaints that it's too cumbersome and expensive to be of any real help. Growers in the program generally must pay a higher wage, plus provide housing and transportation in and out of the country.

The Labor Department approved about 4,200 guest-workers for Washington this year — up from nearly 2,100 three years ago — but that's far fewer than the thousands needed to work each year.

McDougall & Sons Orchard, which has been family-owned for five generations, brought in 240 foreign workers under the program. A one-week extension to their contract kept them here until the end of October, but their exodus left the orchard short pickers when the harvest still wasn't done.

That's when Scott McDougall became the only grower to accept the governor's offer of inmate labor. More than 100 inmates arrived, with security officers in tow, to pick Jazz apples, which are in limited production and have a higher value. Each inmate cost $22 per hour, which McDougall pays the state to cover transportation, food, housing and security.

"I'd say they're probably picking about half what an experienced picker would pick," he said. "The value of the fruit obviously — vs. having it frozen on the tree — warrants the higher rate."x

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Vermont-MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Governor Pete Shumlin introduced a new bias-free policing policy Friday in which Vermont state police will not ask an individual about immigration status when investigating a violation. The new policy was prompted by the detention of two Mexican farm workers who were passengers in a vehicle stopped for speeding. Some Vermont police agencies have already taken a hands-off approach, focusing on criminal activity and not immigration status.

Now, the state police are making that part of their bias-free policing policy, Shumlin and the state's

public safety commissioner said.

"This is essentially a situation where the Vermont state police, as have already Burlington police

and Middlebury and a number of sheriff's departments ... have adopted a policy that says: 'Our main

focus is going to be Vermont criminal statute violations and we're not going to go out of our way to

one: investigate just simple immigration law violations, and two: we're not going to feel compelled

in every instance that doesn't fit federal enforcement priorities to turn those individuals over to

federal authorities,'" said Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell.

The policy — with a new section on immigration and citizenship status — says state police will not

ask an individual about his or her immigration status when investigating a civil violation, but can

ask about it in investigations of criminal offenses or suspicious activity in certain cases. The

investigation must be based on reasonable suspicion, and the immigration status of the suspect

must be relevant to the investigation and not the reason for it.

The Vermont policy also makes clear that troopers should continue to investigate suspected

criminal activity. It has special provisions for police near the Canadian border, allowing troopers to

take action in unlawful border crossings in progress and to call for support from federal authorities

to protect an officer or public safety.

The two farmworkers detained in September were processed by the U.S. Border Patrol, which

troopers had contacted, and cited for being in the country illegally.

Leaders of the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project called the change "a big step forward,"

but expressed concern about when police can ask about immigration status. The Vermont chapter

of the American Civil Liberties Union also was pleased that governor and the state police had made

clear that enforcing immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government and not

Vermont, said executive director Allen Gilbert.

Sorrell said the policy is consistent with Massachusetts' and inconsistent with tough immigration

laws in Arizona and Alabama.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Washington-based Center for Immigration

Studies, called Vermont's policy one of the most restrictive on police in the country. "I think it's

irresponsible," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the group, which advocates for tougher

immigration laws. He said Vermont was tying the hands of police by not letting them enforce

immigration law.xi

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Georgia- After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia,

state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out

of Georgia.

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of

dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields.

It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s

largest industry.

Barely a month ago, Governor Nathan Deal welcomed the TV cameras into his office as he proudly

signed HB 87 into law. Two weeks later, with farmers howling, a scrambling Deal ordered a hasty

investigation into the impact of the law he had just signed, as if all this had come as quite a surprise

to him.

The results of that investigation have now been released. According to survey of 230 Georgia

farmers conducted by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, farmers expect to need more than

11,000 workers at some point over the rest of the season, a number that probably underestimates

the real need, since not every farmer in the state responded to the survey.

In response, Deal proposes that farmers try to hire the 2,000 unemployed criminal probationers

estimated to live in southwest Georgia. Somehow, I suspect that would not be a partnership made in

heaven for either party.

As an editorial in the Valdosta Daily Times notes, “Maybe this should have been prepared for, with

farmers’ input. Maybe the state should have discussed the ramifications with those directly affected.

Maybe the immigration issue is not as easy as ‘send them home,’ but is a far more complex one in

that maybe Georgia needs them, relies on them, and cannot successfully support the state’s No. 1

economic engine without them.”

According to the survey, more than 6,300 of the unclaimed jobs pay an hourly wage of just $7.25 to

$8.99, or an average of roughly $8 an hour. Over a 40-hour work week in the South Georgia sun,

that’s $320 a week, before taxes, although most workers probably put in considerably longer hours.

Another 3,200 jobs pay $9 to $11 an hour. And while our agriculture commissioner has been quoted

as saying Georgia farms provide “$12, $13, $14, $16, $18-an-hour jobs,” the survey reported just

169 openings out of more than 11,000 that pay $16 or more.

In addition, few of the jobs include benefits — only 7.7 percent offer health insurance, and barely a

third is even covered by workers compensation. And the truth is that even if all 2,000 probationers

in the region agreed to work at those rates and stuck it out — a highly unlikely event, to put it

mildly — it wouldn’t fix the problem.

Given all that, Deal’s pledge to find “viable and law-abiding solutions” to the problem that he helped

create seems naively far-fetched. Again, if such solutions existed, they should have been put in place

before the bill ever became law, because this impact was entirely predictable and in fact intended.

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It’s hard to envision a way out of this. Georgia farmers could try to solve the manpower shortage by

offering higher wages, but that would create an entirely different set of problems. If they raise

wages by a third to a half, which is probably what it would take, they would drive up their operating

costs and put themselves at a severe price disadvantage against competitors in states without such

tough immigration laws. That’s one of the major disadvantages of trying to implement immigration

reform state by state, rather than all at once.

The pain this is causing is real. People are going to lose their crops, and in some cases their farms.

The small-town businesses that supply those farms with goods and services are going to suffer as

well. For economically embattled rural Georgia, this could be a major blow.

We’re going to reap what we have sown, even if the farmers can’t.xii

Sources

i Associated Press, "Crackdown: Many immigration laws focus on workers", Oct 27, 2011 http://www.npr.org/2011/09/30/140936470/illegal-immigration-alabama-latest-state-to-crack-down ii Michael Noyes, "Bill seeks to prevent 'sanctuary cities' from popping up in Montana" March 18, 2011 Montana Watchdog, http://montana.watchdog.org/2011/03/18/bill-seeks-to-prevent-sanctuary-cities-in-montana/ iii Josh Loftin, "Federal judge blocks Utah immigration law" Associated Press May 5, 2011 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42987294/ns/politics-more_politics/t/federal-judge-blocks-utah-immigration-law/#.Trw3Z7JjNv8 iv Amanda Crawford, "Arizona Immigration-Law Author Pearce Loses in Recall Election: Bloomberg, November 10, 2011 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-10/arizona-immigration-law-author-pearce-loses-in-recall-election.html v Associated Press, "Justice Department Sues South Carolina Over State's Strict Immigration Law," November 1,2011 Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/31/justice-department-sues-south-carolina-over-states-strict-immigration-law/ vi Jim Davenport "Nations challenge SC immigration law" November 8,2011 The Sun News, http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/11/08/2488158/nations-challenge-sc-immigration.html vii Siddhartha Mahanta "GOP Showdown With Justice Department Over Immigration" November 10,2011, Mother Jones http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/sessions-demint-vitter-immigration-state-bill-arizona-alabama-south-carolina-georgia

viii Laura Ziegler "The Man Behind the Illegal Immigration Crackdown" September 30,2011

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/30/140927115/the-man-behind-the-illegal-immigration-crackdown

ix Candice Madsen “Illegal immigration enforcement hurting farm labor?" October 24th, 2011 KSL http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17807432&s_cid=rss-148 x Shannon Dininny "With migrant workers scared off by immigration crackdown, Wash orchards desperate for pickers" November 9,2011, The Republic

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http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/6e8a825e266e440dbb97a8a571fac1ca/US--Food-and-Farm-Apple-Pickers/ xi Lisa Rathke, "Vermont Bans state police from asking about legal status for suspected illegal immigrants" November 5,2011 Associated Press http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/vermont_bans_state_police_from.html xii Jay Bookman, " Georgia's farm-labor crisis playing out as planned" June 17,2011 http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2011/06/17/gas-farm-labor-crisis-playing-out-as-planned/