Critics are blasting some GOP-run states for failing to enact business-related migration reforms that match the Trump administration’s drive to repair Joe Biden’s border crisis.
One of the few red states to move forward with the Trump administration’s agenda is Indiana where several measures have been ushered through the state legislature.
Numbers USA, which has been working to urge states to pass E-Verify rules and place more limits on welfare and other freebies for illegals, noted that too many red states are dragging their feet on helping Trump ensure his agenda in their states.
The bill Indiana State Attorney General Todd Rokita is talking about is HB 1531, which would allow the state AG’s office to investigate employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. Such companies would risk losing their business licenses if found to be in violation. The bill also requires state law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in federal immigration law enforcement. The bill passed the state House in February.
The state is also in the process of passing HB 1393, which would require officials in the state’s jails to inform law enforcement if they find a detainee is an illegal alien. Law enforcement would, in turn, be required to alert ICE of the suspect’s immigration status.
Rokita recently blasted the unelected judges who are trying to block the Trump administration from deporting dangerous criminal illegal aliens.
Florida and Texas have also both surged ahead to begin addressing stronger immigration laws.
However, other red states seem to be slow rolling the new laws in their legislatures.
Idaho, for instance, has slowed its debate on a bill that would criminalize helping illegal aliens from getting jobs and establishing homes in the state. The bill, HB 335, stalled this month and has not been rescheduled for debate. Another bill, HB 382, has been dropped after some criticized its provision to require schools to collect the immigration status of students. The legislature has also stalled the movement of an E-Verify bill that would require employers to utilize the system on all new hires.
Wyoming has also stalled measures to stiffen immigration-related bills. In February, the Wyoming state Senate torpedoed a bill that would detain and deport illegal aliens in the Cowboy State. Some of the bill’s critics in the state were wary of how it might affect employers looking for cheap migrant labor.
Several red state governors have also expressed reticence to move against illegals other than migrants accused of, or arrested for, criminal activity. Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt continues to bow to the business sector’s desire for cheap migrant labor. Stitt even supported an effort to import more immigrants into the state to satisfy the state’s business demands.
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