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Round Up: Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce Pushes Anti-Immigrant Bill, SB 1611

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Senator Russel Pearce and Sheriff Joe ArpaioYesterday, we reported that Arizona State Senator Russell Pearse had introduced yet another anti-immigrant bill to the Arizona Senate. If you thought SB 1070 was bad, check out SB 1611.  Here’s some background information from Eliza Gray at The New Republic:

On Tuesday the president of the Arizona State Senate, Republican Russell Pearce, introduced a colossal immigration bill, simply entitled “immigration omnibus.” The unusually long 29-page bill is a kind of catch-all for radical proposals, designed to insert immigration enforcement into practically every facet of Arizonan life, including public benefits like Medicaid and K-12 education.

Andrea Nill from Think Progress compounds:  

The most controversial provision of Pearce’s latest law, SB-1611, would require parents to provide proof of their childrens’ immigration status when enrolling them in school. Even parents who home school their children would have to provide their county school superintendent with the information. Under SB-1611, it would be a crime for an undocumented immigrant to operate a vehicle and they will have their car seized and sold and face jail time if they do. The bill also seeks to put companies that do not use the federal electronic employment verification system out of business and would require cities to evict anyone in public housing who cannot prove they are in the U.S. legally.

And, as Marisa Treviño at Latina Lista reminds us, SB 1611 will drive immigrant communities even further underground:

What some members of the Arizona legislature are doing is not putting democracy in action, but rather it’s creating a police state that limits the freedom and movement of all Latinos, citizens or not.