Although he has not yet introduced any specific text of the possible legislation, his opening statement at this morning's hearing gave an indication of the why's and how's:
I am therefore announcing today that should the Supreme Court choose to ignore these plain and unambiguous statements of Congressional intent and uphold SB-1070, I will introduce legislation which will reiterate that Congress does not intend for states to enact their own immigration enforcement schemes.
My legislation will re-emphasize that state officials can only engage in the detection, apprehension, and detention of unlawfully present individuals if they are doing so pursuant to an explicit agreement with the federal government and are being supervised and trained by federal officials.
States like Arizona and Alabama will no longer be able to get away with saying they are simply “helping the federal government” to enforce the law when they are really writing their own laws and knowingly deploying untrained officers with a mission of arresting anyone and everyone who might fit the preconceived profile of an illegal immigrant.
My legislation will also re-emphasize that state and local governments are preempted from enacting their own employment verification laws and penalties. Federal preemption of employment verification law has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many other business groups and trade associations.
I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in this effort in the event it becomes necessary.
This snippet and the entire text of his opening statement can be found here. The video can be found here.
We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment