Musings on Immigration

A more in depth analysis will be coming this evening, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just made absolutely clear why Georgia's HB 87 and SB 40 are going to be found unconstitutional if passed by the State Legislature. In United States of America v. Arizona , Judge Paez writes specifically as to Section 2(B), which is the "show me your papers" part of SB 1070 in the Arizona law and which is contained in substance in both HB 87 and SB 40, that In light of this guidance, Section 2(B)’s interference with Congressionally-granted Executive discretion weighs in favor of preemption. Section 2(B)’s ‘unyielding” mandatory directives to Arizona law enforcement officers “underminethe President’s intended statutory authority” to establish immigration enforcement priorities and strategies. Crosby , 530 U.S. at 377. Furthermore, “flexibility is a critical component of the statutory and regulatory framework under which the” Executive “pursues [the] difficult (and often competing) ...

I was fortunate to be invited to speak on the Salt Lake City affiliate of National Public Radio last Friday. We had a chance to discuss the national picture on immigration reform, as well as some of the Utah specfic legislation that was pending before their state legislature. Most of that legislation was sponsored by politicians wanting their 15 minutes of fame at the expense of immigrants, but one of the bills was quite interesting–a proposal for a Utah-specific temporary/guest worker program. Listen to the program for the details of my discussion: h ttp://kcpw.org/article/7475