Breakin’ the Law Breakin’ the Law

(Eventually, I’m going to count how many late 70’s early 80’s band references I’ve listed here. In all honesty, one is too many, but sometimes it just works.)

It’s about to get a lot tougher on those who knowingly hirer illegal immigrants for jobs in Indiana. That is, if State Senator Mike Delph (R - Carmel) has his way. One of the most staunch conservative in the General Assembly, Senator Delph will introduce legislation that would make the state’s penalties for hiring illegals among the stiffest in the country.

According to the Indy Star:

The bill, authored by Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, gained support from Republicans and Democrats alike Friday but was criticized by Hispanic leaders, business officials and civil rights experts who say cracking down on illegal immigration should be left to the federal government.

Cracking down on illegal immigration should be left to the Federal Government? While I’d like to agree, the Feds have a lousy record of enforcing immigration laws in our country. More recently, instead of backing existing laws, Congress wanted to pass legislation that amounted to amnesty rather than enforcing what’s currently on the books. But it’s not as if Democrats are to blame there. This lousy piece of legislation was penned by our Republican President and essentially approved of what has been going on for over twenty years or more. And that’s “Breakin’ the law” (beware: really really really bad 80’s metal rock band video in that link…who in the world plays a cardboard guitar?!?)

It also begs the question, what part of illegal do opponents of this bill not get? Is it the “il” or the “legal”?

(More conservative goodness after the jump)

For the record, I’m not for rounding up all of the illegal immigrants in this country and sending them back from whence they came. That’s just dumb and virtually impossible. But I agree that our borders need to be strengthened and that those who are here to seek citizenship should be required to go through a process of assimilation which includes learning English, American history and civics, while also learning to respect the values of a democratic society. I also believe that a punishment should be levied. What that is or how severe it should be? That’s up for discussion.

What should be discussed here is that this is a bi-partisan piece of legislation. State Rep. Bill Crawford (D - Indy) was quoted as saying ““I don’t see this as a partisan issue…” “I think as Americans, we’re all concerned about this.” It should also be noted that Delph is not targeting undocumented workers (read: illegal immigrants), but companies that hire them.

I applaud Senator Delph’s efforts to see business’ abide by the rules. It appears that where the Federal Government has failed us, the State must step up. Now we’ll see if it can make it to the Governor’s desk. More importantly, it will be interesting to hear the Governor’s response.

(H/T - Sir Hailstone of the Digital Farmers Blog)

According to the Indy Star, here is summary of this piece of legislation.

Bill at a glance

The illegal- immigration bill Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, plans to file next week would:

• Subject an employer to three years of probation if it’s found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

• Revoke a business’s licenses to operate in Indiana if it is found guilty a second time during the probation period.

• Force employers to verify employment eligibility through the federal E-Verify program after Dec. 31, 2008.

• Make it a Class A misdemeanor to transport, shield from detection, conceal or harbor an illegal immigrant. Subsequent offenses would become felonies.

• Puts the attorney general in charge of investigating complaints of businesses violating the law.

• Requires the Superintendent of the State Police to work with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement division to obtain training in assisting with the enforcement of federal immigration law.

• Prohibits any unit of government from entering into a contract with a firm that employs an illegal immigrant.

• Requires all hospitals to report total costs of care for illegal immigrants to the Indiana State Department of Health.