Over the next week, Maryland’s contentious budget battles will have some competition in the acrimony department as foes of illegal immigration do battle with support groups like CASA de Maryland and the National Capital Immigrant Coalition.
At stake are bills dealing with the reporting requirements for detained criminal suspects and convicted prisoners already in the penal system related to their immigration status, broadening the scope of local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws similar to the 287(g) program already in use by Frederick County, an effort to codify into law that non-citizens aren’t permitted to be registered as part of so-called “motor voter” registration, and English-only laws for both Baltimore and Harford counties.
These bills and other similar legislation have been introduced by General Assembly Republicans to address Maryland’s reputation as a “sanctuary state” friendly to undocumented workers. In these trying budget times, proponents point to a report which claims that illegal immigrants cost the state $1.4 billion per year. On the other hand, CASA de Maryland actively seeks to employ low- and semi-skilled immigrant workers, placing them in the position of losing some part of their available workforce if stricter laws and regulations are passed by the General Assembly.
Showing the new emphasis on the problem, the majority of bills on the legislative slate followed by the anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Maryland are newly introduced this year, with only a couple holdovers from previous sessions. None of those bills had made it through committee, but with new rules allowing more public scrutiny of committee votes and the fact this is an election year, the procedure for majority Democrats who tend to take the side of undocumented workers and who control committee agendas may be to bury these bills in their desk drawers for the remainder of the session after the hearings.
Changing that fate will be a stern test of the newly empowered anti-illegal immigration lobby, but they’re counting on participation from social networking and other sources to get the job done. We can expect some pitched battles and anger from both sides as these hearings take place over the next few days.
