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August 6, 2007

Report: Many states toughened immigration laws

Though federal comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws stalled this summer, many states have stepped up efforts to enact their own immigration-related laws, according to a report issued today by the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Immigrant Policy Project.

The report states that 1,404 pieces of legislation related to immigrants and immigration law have been introduced among 50 state legislatures: roughly two and a half times more bills this year than last. From January to July this year, 140 of those bills became law in 41 states.

Rhode Island’s efforts to join the trend all but failed this year when the General Assembly took a pass on some 36 immigration-related bills. All but one which failed to make it out of committee; the lone surviving bill, a citizenship-verification measure, died at the close of the Assembly session in June.

The report cites a new Rhode Island law as part of the trend: It makes human-trafficking a crime.

-- Journal staff writer Karen Lee Ziner

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:53 PM | Permalink

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