Florida Struggles With Arizona’s Immigration Plan

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

MIAMI — With no debate, the Florida Senate on Wednesday approved a watered-down bill to curb illegal immigration, an issue that has divided Republicans in the state, pitting pro-business and Hispanic lawmakers against the party’s more populist wing.

The bill would require the police to make “a reasonable effort” to determine the immigration status of people they arrest and jail, a provision that opponents say is an Arizona-style attack on legal and illegal immigrants. The proposal would also require that illegal immigrants who are convicted of nonviolent crimes be referred to federal officials for deportation.

The vote was a surprise because lawmakers had presumed the bill was dead after the Senate voted down a pivotal amendment on Tuesday that had been pushed by Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, and Tea Party activists. That measure would have essentially required businesses in Florida to check a worker’s immigration status in a federal verification database, known as E-Verify, or risk fines if a worker was found to be illegal.

“It’s easy to talk about this down at the post office, but when you start looking in people’s eyes, people who live and breathe like us, we need to think long and hard,” said State Senator J. D. Alexander, a Republican who is a citrus grower and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “We are being put in the middle of the most difficult position.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/05florida.html

[SoapBox]

1. Idiots...plain and simple.

GOBPers, RushThugs and T.HATERbaggers...Hate and Rage...that's what they are all about.

[joeglow3]

4. Who is a hater? Is my father's union haters?

My father was a union drywaller for over 30 years. In the last 15 years, he saw his wages plummet and company after company break their union. In the end, there were only one or two union shops left when he retired (after having to switch companies 4-5 times to stay in the union). He had a number of coworkers lose their jobs from this and end up homeless This was DIRECTLY related to the influx of illegal immigrants into his profession. I know he, as a life long Democrat, supports curtailing this. Is he a hater? How do you reconcile the view of him being a hater with his sole motivation being concern for blue-collar, working class people and maintaining a liveable wage?

[WatsonT]

5. The official line is that illegal immigration is a great thing

because . . . . uh . . .. well it helps businesses make more profits by hiring cheaper, non-American laborers.

Yeah I don't get it either, but that seems to be the consensus.

Also they will point out that there is absolutely no difference between legal and illegal immigration. SO if you have an issue with illegal immigration you must oppose all immigration and are likely a racist.

[pampango]

2. Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R) urged the Florida House to take up and pass his chamber’s

immigration proposal despite House GOP leaders’ insistence that the issue is off the table. “This is an issue we’ve talked about for almost a decade. I would trust the House to take up that bill,” the Merritt Island Republican who is running for U.S. Senate told reporters late this evening. “I think it’s the right thing to do…I’d like to see them do it. These are common-sense items I think everybody would agree with.”

The Senate plan is too weak for conservative Republicans in the House and too strident for Democrats to get the two-thirds votes needed to consider the measure, according to Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, the House plan’s sponsor.

But Haridopolos said the Senate proposal that would require work force boards to run a federal immigration status check on potential employees before they are referred to employers, prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving state or federal benefits and deport criminals after their sentences are served is a good idea. The Senate measure, passed with no discussion on Wednesday, would also require law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of arrestees after they are detained.

Meanwhile, immigrants and their advocates stepped up pressure on lawmakers to abandon the immigration overhaul. Dozens of them prayed outside House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s office. Lopez-Cantera is a member of the Hispanic Caucus that came out in opposition to the immigration bills. Late Wednesday evening, the immigrants decided to hold an all-night vigil outside the Capitol.

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2011/05/as-immigrants-stage-all-night-vigil-haridopolos-urges-house-to-pass-senate-immigration-bill/

[Zephie]

3. Looking in their eyes? Living and breathing like us? Bullshit, Senator Alexander

If you had any feelings about the well being of these people you would be pushing for immigration reform and better conditions in the fields and groves they work in (and that you own). You just don't want to have to look for workers who you can't keep under your thumb and pay a pittance. No one is falling for your false sympathy. Makes me sick, sick, sick.

[Bandit]

6. What is wrong with asking an employer to check immigration status

so as not to hire an undocumented individual. People complain about losing jobs to undocumented workers and yet seem also to complain about putting pressure on employers to make sure they hire either American workers or documented persons. I don't get it..:shrug: