UPDATE @ 6:55 ET: North Carolina just became the 16th state* to introduce an SB 1070 copycat bill. Unlike Arizona’s law, the North Carolina bill states that only a “law enforcement officer who is authorized by the federal government to verify or ascertain a person’s immigration status” may enforce the new law. The effect, as I discuss below in the context of other states, is a blurring of the lines between state and federal immigration enforcement programs.
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In Arizona’s state legislature, racial profiling is so 2010. It introduced a set of anti-immigrant bills last week that make last year’s SB 1070 look a bit like a passing nuisance. But outside the Grand Canyon State, SB 1070 is far from last year’s news. A round of similarly crafted and in many cases more extreme bills are now spreading all over the country.
At least 16 state legislatures* have introduced SB 1070 copycat bills in the current legislative session. They are undeterred by the suite of lawsuits that have thus far kept Arizona from implementing the most controversial elements of its law...[Full Article]
