Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Sweeping and cracking down

Over at Polipundit the Roundup Advocates are thrilled to see that the Great State of Georgia has passed what Reuters describes as Sweeping Immigration Law and Jayson of Polipundit describes as a Sweeping Crackdown.

Here's the full text of Georgia's Senate Bill 529.

I gave the full text a quick gander. Some of the things it seems to require are:

  • public employers, contractors, or subcontractors of 500 or more employees to comply (on or after July 1, 2007) with the federal statutes regarding the employment of non-citizens. Fortunately they'll be able to find some guidance about that here.

A year after that it will apply to employers with more than 100 employees and a year after that all employees.

I suppose that is all reasonable enough but, umm, why weren't contractor to the Georgia state government always required to meet federal law? Oh, well, nevermind.

  • outlaws trafficking in humans for labor or sexual servitude

Maybe I've been away or living under a rock or whatever but didn't we have some little tiff about that sorta thing a while back?

  • establish some rules and such for local law enforcement to interface with federal immigration officials and train some folks to do all that

Umm.... nevermind.

  • if they arrest an illegal for a felony or DUI they'll notify federal authorities

of course, Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to deny a person bond or from being released from confinement when such person is otherwise eligible for release

and some other minor stuff but legislation is B-O-R-I-N-G to read.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

polipundit has gone so far off the deep end on this subject that a couple of the regular contributers like DJ and Andrew have made it plain they do not always see eye to eye with poli when it comes to immigration.. I would say that many of the commenters are likewise fixated and I have stopped reading a lot of the comments. We are veing invaded, hispanics want to rule us Bush is bad because he likes Mexcians more than he likes us.... blah blah blah.

What I find amazing is that these people seem to think there are no laws out there right now pertaining to illegals. There are, that is why they call them illegals. The point is the laws need to be enforced.

BTW, if the states can deal with this without the US government why don't border states do that more often?

Unknown said...

david:

I do know people who say they "just don't like the idea" of a national ID card. In fact one man I know swears this is what the whole immigration business is really about...a way to get ID cards.

Doug said...

"BTW, if the states can deal with this without the US government why don't border states do that more often? "
---
Terrye,
In Arizona, the problem is that it is a waste of time:
When they pick them up and give them to INS, they usually are released forthwith.

In Nebraska the INS head lost his job when CHUCK HAGEL among others did the bidding of Hormel, and stopped them from interfering with their practice of replacing US Citizens with "less demanding" (illegal) employees.

That was after the INS was run out of Georgia by some other Senator looking out for the interests of the Onion lobby in that state.
---
National ID is a disaster waiting to happen, according to some.
Something about sign of the beast, 666, and etc.
I'm willing to take the risk, myself.

Doug said...

And, just like when Simpson/Mazzoli passed in the 80's, traffic on the border has increased sharply at the mere talk of a two year residence requirement to get on the path to the highway of socialist comforts.

Unknown said...

doug:

I was being more than a little facetious.

But in truth I did hear that the feds are doing more retaining now and less turning loose. But nothing happens quickly when dealing with government. I also heard they are taking some of those folks back in deeper so they are not so close to the border.

But they need to control the border better in the first place.

Doug said...

Terrye, yeah, I figured!

As to "improvements" tho, they pale in comparison to the increase in flow in Clinton years, and even GREATER increase in Bush years, simply because it is well known that we have a Wink and Nod POLICY on actual enforcement, and ever more free incentives for those that break our laws.
---
As to the often raised issue of the "impossibility" of enforcement:

With a National ID, if local police were again allowed to do their jobs, and the INS was allowed a policy other than Catch and Release,
there are 7.5 MILLION Enforcement officers already employed across the country!

Doug said...

Knucklehead,
Opps, added a zero!
Was thinking of Session's idea below.
My complaint is with all the (liberal) policies that PREVENT cops from asking a person's status in the course of their regular work.
ie, lots of illegals are stopped or come in contact police in one way or the other, but they can't ask, nor can schools divulge that information, etc.

Kind of like the Gorelick Wall syndrome:
We blind ourselves with needless restrictions on gaining free information.
---
"In Florida and Alabama, state police have reached agreements with ICE that go one step further. A handful of officers in both states have gone through training with ICE and have become certified to enforce federal immigration laws, meaning they can arrest undocumented immigrants simply for being here illegally.

Officials said those officers aren't conducting raids on agricultural fields or labor camps, trying to root out anyone and everyone here illegally. They're mostly taking illegal immigrants encountered during the course of criminal investigations into custody themselves, instead of calling ICE and waiting for federal agents to respond, said E.J. Picolo of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Calling the program a success in his state, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Republican, wants to expand it throughout the country, because ICE's limited enforcement personnel can't patrol all of the United States.

"There is no way those 2,000 officers can ever adequately patrol our streets for immigration violators and do a good job of handling these problems," Sessions said on the Senate floor this summer.
"But we have 750,000 state and local law-enforcement officers who are on our streets and in our communities every single day."

Doug said...

Immigration laws largely unenforced in nation's interior

Doug said...

"We need to start with closing the borders and a national ID, IMHO."
---
Agreed, and even there they come up with objections:
I read last nite it "would cost $18 billion/year" to implement a national I.D.
I guess, at Dept of Motor Vehicles, or US Post Office levels of efficiency, maybe it would.
That still would be cheap compared to another serious terrorist attack.
Some 150,000 "Other Than Mexicans" enter each year at present levels.
---
What about legalizing them all (except criminals, etc) as temporary workers, totally separate from a citizenship path?
(ie some would later earn citizenship through another process, some would never qualify.)
Won't happen, just curious for your thoughts on that, and all the things I'm missing.
---
Your local "scandal" is repeated across the nation wherever Federal Tax dollars are doled out.
Back in the 70's my girlfriends mother was involved in the early days of head-start type programs and others for blacks and then got into "prison reform" where I REALLY got to see the Con Artists!

Doug said...

Man I love those North Easterners:

"New Hampshire House Passes Anti-REAL ID Bill. The New Hampshire House of Representatives has just passed HB 1582, an act "prohibiting New Hampshire from participating in a national identification card system." If the measure passes the state Senate, New Hampshire will be the first state to reject the REAL ID Act, which sets federal standards for state driver's licenses, essentially making them national ID cards. According to a recent survey (pdf) of state motor vehicle administrators, the costs of implementation have been vastly underestimated by the federal government, which initially put the total price at $100 million. Pennsylvania alone would spend $85 million on REAL ID, the survey found. (Apr. 17) "

Doug said...

ONLY 12 Billion, Sorry!:

In any case, says the Government Accountability Office, the new system will also cost nearly $12 billion a year. Given the record of DHS so far, it may be prone to errors, causing countless headaches for businesses and workers.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/04/the_missing_part_of_the_immigr.html

LomaAlta said...

It would be simple to solve the illegal immmigration problem:1) Close the border, 2) Apply RICO to illegal aliens and those who hire them (this eliminates the demand and they will go home if they face no work and possible jail time; they got here on their own they can leave the same way), and 3) Enforce existing laws.

Doug said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Doug said...

6:24,
It would be, but it never will be.
We have a harvest to reap from years of lawbreaking and socialist/welfare state corruption and decadence.
Sad.

Doug said...

"Has anyone, other than the lunatic fringe, suggested direct conversion to citizenship?"
---
Some say some Senate Proposals really say that with a verneer covering of some delay and the token "fine" that would readily be paid by the employers.
Based on who's involved and their past performance, I'm afraid that's probably right.