How Does Your State Measure Up on Immigration?
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff. Date Posted: November 13, 2007
States across the country are enacting increasingly harsh penalties for undocumented immigrants and their employers. Which states have the harshest laws? Which states protect undocumented children? Here's a look at immigration legislation in most of the 50 states by legislation category such as education and employment. How does your state measure up? Click on a state to see its immigration laws.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures 2007, the Immigration Policy Watch, 2007
STATE BY STATE (in alphabetical order)
Alabama
Resolutions
(4/26/07) Voting or registering to vote by undocumented immigrants is a felony.
(6/7/07) Establishes the Join Interim Patriotic Immigration Commission, outlines its duties, responsibilities, purpose and membership.
Arizona
Education
(5/8/2007) Establishes an adult-education division within the Department of Education responsible for teaching English to immigrants and supplementing the assimilation work of various agencies, among other requirements.
Employment
(4/24/2007) Addresses overtime compensation for undocumented immigrants.
(7/2/2007) Prevents employers from knowingly or intentionally hiring undocumented workers and requires all employers to use the Basic Pilot Program to determine employees' legal status; forms a committee to study employer-sanctions laws in Arizona; and provides penalties with respect to business licenses.
ID/Driver's Licenses/Other Licenses
(5/8/2007) Applicants for liquors licenses must be U.S. citizens or documented immigrants.
Law Enforcement
(5/4/2007) Allows for detention of a material witness if testimony of a person is important in a criminal proceeding and subpoenas may not be practical because of the immigration status of the person.
(6/25/2007) Funds immigration-law enforcement in the state.
(6/25/2007) Denies release on bail for a felony if there is probable cause that the suspect is an undocumented immigrant.
(7/2/2007) Requires agency to submit detainee's country of origin and criminal record to the court and the prosecuting agency to determine whether person is eligible for bail.
Voting
(7/2/2007) Vetoed legislation would have instructed county recorders in Arizona to reject any application for voter registration that is not accompanied by proof of citizenship and provides list of acceptable documents.
Resolutions
(2/20/07) Urges Congress to repeal privacy stipulations in the Real ID Act of 2005.
(4/18/07) Increases rights of law-enforcement officials to enforce border security.
(4/30/07) Urges Congress to continue to fund and complete border-security program that facilitates legal cross-border travel.
Arkansas
Employment
(2/28/2007) State agencies cannot contract with businesses that employ undocumented immigrants and provide certification to this effect.
(3/28/2007) Certain migrant farm laborers are not included under the definition of "employee" and are therefore excluded from minimum-wage and overtime laws.
ID/Driver's Licenses/Other Licenses
(3/30/2007) Applicants for liquor licenses must be U.S. citizens or documented immigrants.
Resolutions
(3/29/07) Urges Congress to secure borders and develop comprehensive immigration reform that cracks down on human trafficking, including a guest-worker program (does not mean amnesty), a guest-worker taxation program that enables guest workers to get limited basic healthcare, and cooperating with other countries and the state of Arkansas to address current problems stemming from undocumented immigration.
California
ID/Driver's Licenses/Other Licenses
(5/14/2007) Applicants for firearms must be U.S. citizens or documented immigrants.
Public Benefits
(7/2/2007) Extends public benefits such as housing, income and educational support to migrant workers in the state and requires agencies responsible for distributing these benefits to comply.
Colorado
Employment
(3/16/2007) Requires use of the Basic Pilot Program for public-service contracts to confirm employment eligibility of new hires.
(4/26/2007) Identifies appropriate legal documents that prove legal U.S. residence for people applying for unemployment when individual is not a Colorado resident.
Law Enforcement
(6/1/2007) Requires a no-bond warrant be issued in a criminal case when the defendant is found to be an undocumented immigrant. Such a warrant must be issued when a defendant who has posted a bond is released to the immigration and customs-enforcement agency, and prohibits court from dismissing criminal charges against undocumented people.
Public Benefits
(3/1/07) Individuals applying for public benefits must provide proof of citizenship status.
(3/22/07) Adds standards for verification of citizenship status to Department of Human Services for regulation.
(5/14/2007) Provides provisions on child-custody laws to prevent abduction of child by someone who is undergoing a change in immigration status or is undocumented.
Resolutions
(05/17/2007) Requests reimbursement from federal government for costs associated with incarcerating undocumented immigrants.
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