Arizona Style Immigration Law Coming to Texas in 2011

In Texas, a heavily Hispanic state, Republican legislators are drafting highly anti-immigrant legislation for 2011.

David Montgomery of the Fort Worth Telegraph has the whole story here:

"Conservative lawmakers, empowered by last week's Republican election gains, introduced a host of bills Monday that include an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration and the requirement of a photo ID to vote."

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, who at her finest can be seen here railing against "Terror Babies," has begun a new quest to pass Anti Immigrant legislation in the state capitol:

"Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, said she set up folding chairs and camped out near the House chamber over the weekend to be first in line to file a batch of bills that include a voter ID measure and Arizona-style legislation that would allow local law enforcement officers to arrest illegal immigrants."

The Texas state legislators actions highlight the battle currently raging over what to do in the absence of any federal legislation that addresses our broken immigration system. After Arizona, states have become increasingly emboldened to pass their own immigrant legislation.

Certainly state legislators should try to help their constituents, but until there is a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of laws like SB1070, these new laws may be much ado about nothing.

It is important to note that where similar laws have been passed they have been incredibly expensive to enact and been all but impossible to implement as there have been so many lawsuits filed against said laws

It would be wise for states to at least wait until the 9th circuit comes back with their ruling on whether the law is constitutional or not, before they attempt to pass laws that may be thrown out shortly after they are passed.

That might save state legislators time and money, that they could devote to passing laws that would actually help the state, as opposed to tying it up in legal battles with the federal government.

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