Immigration Legislation Round-Up

During the spring legislative session, three bills were passed which support immigrant communities and a set of deeply problematic bills failed to pass. Bold text from the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota's update; additional information from Indymedia:

  A bill (SF 1514) recognizing for the first time in Minnesota the specific crime of sex trafficking was passed and signed into law on May 21st, 2009. The law creates  new penalties of up to 25 years in prison for perpetrators, and allows a civil suit to be brought by a trafficked person even if ze doesn't bring criminal charges.

·        A bill (HF 988) prohibiting Minnesota from complying with the REAL ID act of 2005, which would force every Minnesotan to obtain a national ID card and disparately impact the immigrant community.  The Real ID act broadens the government's powers to deport "terrorists" and gives much greater discretion to immigration officials when accepting or rejecting petitions for asylum.  A judge can reject a petition for asylum based on the applicant's demeanor or based on any inconsistency in an applicant's paperwork and oral or written testimony--precisely the sort of inconsistency that might be expected in testimony given by a traumatized person on separate occasions. There are also concerns that the Real ID could be required by employers, businesses and others even though it's not required under the law, effectively barring undocumented immigrants from employment and other opportunities.

·        A bill (SF 2082) that extends for two more years Minnesota's Working Group on Ethnic Heritage and New Americans (a bill ILCM and AFFIRM helped pass in 2007; John Keller appointed to it by Senate). It will continue to improve Minnesota's integration of immigrants into the economic, social, and political systems, and importantly, to officially acknowledge immigrants' value to this state.

Further, several bills were defeated that would have had significant negative impacts upon the immigrant community (this is not a complete list):

·        A bill (SF 505) that would have forced all women who wear any form of head covering, including headscarfs, hijabs, and tichels, to remove those garments in order to obtain any state ID form.  This article from the Islam Daily provides a summary.

·        A bill (SF 577) that would make English the official language. 

·        A bill (SF 144) that would have held all state and municipal government employees liable if they knew of an undocumented immigrant and failed to report the immigrant to the Federal authorities.  A bill like this means that undocumented immigrants are less likely to use any government service, whether educational, medical or legal.  It would also create a climate of fear and isolation for undocumented immigrants and their friends and relatives.  In addition, it would make mandatory reporters--government spies--out of a huge percentage of Minnesotans, whether they liked it or not.

·        A bill (SF 143) creating redundant criminal law for cases involving forgery of federal documents, which are already covered by federal law.

·        A bill (SF 146) requiring the presentation of photo ID when voting, which disparately impacts immigrant communities.  Folks move around a lot and don't always have new ID, or maybe can't afford the fee to update it when they move; folks don't neccessarily have the correct information about how to vote; folks may have perfectly justified doubts about being ID'd by an amateur (or by anyone, really).  And the more complicated it is to vote, the lower the turnout of working people so that the votes of the rich and privileged count more.