Hill Impasse Spurs States to Tackle Illegal Immigration

"We had high hopes that Congress would do something this year," Pearce said. "But Washington is ducking its responsibility. Our constituents are outraged about that. So they are demanding -- and I mean demanding -- that we do the job instead."

With opinion surveys showing intense public concern about immigration this year, Congress has been sharply divided. The House passed a tough anti-immigration bill that included stiff criminal measures and costly new efforts in border control. In the Senate, many lawmakers favor a guest-worker program and finding a way to allow some illegal immigrants to seek citizenship. So far, however, the legislation has been mired in committee.

With the two houses seeming to be on divergent paths, state officials are losing hope for federal immigration initiatives this year. "If Congress were able to act, there would be much less activity in the state legislatures," Bernstein said.

The most common approach to immigration at the state level this year, the NCSL tally shows, is criminal legislation to impose sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. More than half the states are considering employment legislation in various forms, and many bills are expected to pass.

On April 17, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed a law that imposes fines on employers of undocumented workers and requires any company with a state contract to fire any employee who is not a legal resident. The Georgia law also requires that state offices verify an employee's status before paying unemployment benefits or workers' compensation. Similar provisions are found in pending bills in several other states.

Legislatures in Ohio, South Dakota and Arizona have passed bills this year requiring that state or local police check the immigration status of everybody they encounter, and report suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Several other states have similar bills pending.

Many police chiefs and mayors oppose this approach, fearing that immigrants will be frightened to contact the police when they need help. But proponents say that the initial police contact is the best time to catch somebody who should not be here. As Pearce puts it, "Deportation should start with the traffic stop."

More than a dozen states are considering legislation that would require proof of citizenship or of legal-resident status for anybody seeking a driver's license. Some would simply deny illegal immigrants the right to drive. Other proposals are similar to a bill that passed in Utah last year, offering undocumented applicants only a "driving privilege" certificate that is not supposed to be treated as legal identification. Virginia requires license applicants to offer proof of legal status.

There are also bills pending in several state capitols to help undocumented workers deal with the problems that come with their status. Several states seek to get tough on "notarios," people without a law degree who sell costly "consulting" services to immigrants seeking legal-residence status or citizenship. Some state governments help employers fill out the I-9 form that is required for immigrant workers under federal law.

Polls show that immigration is considered a bigger problem in Arizona than gasoline prices. Republican Sen. Jon Kyl and Jim Pederson, his Democratic challenger, are already saturating the airwaves for the November election -- and the ads deal mainly with immigration.

So far this year, the Republican-controlled legislature has passed several bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration; Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has vetoed several of them. Pearce, sponsor of the employer-crackdown legislation, said the anti-illegal-immigration majority in the legislature plans to package all the measures into a comprehensive bill. That would set up a new confrontation with the governor.

The bill that seems most likely to become law here this session is Pearce's employer-sanction plan. Napolitano said in January that she would sign an employer-sanction bill. Even business groups concede that approval is likely.

"Our position has been that employment of immigrants is a federal issue, and it deserves a federal response," said Farrell Quinlan of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "But if the federal government doesn't act, you're going to see the states try to fill the void."