“Congress does not intend for states to enforce their own immigration schemes,” Schumer said at a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “It is simply too damaging to our economy and too dangerous to our democracy, to have 50 different states be permitted to take their own direction when it comes to immigration policy.”
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on Arizona’s immigration enforcement law, SB 1070, which gives police broad authority to detain individuals suspected of being in the country illegally. Schumer said the Arizona law also makes it a federal crime for any individual to fail at any time to possess documents verifying their immigration status.
At a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Schumer said his legislation would expressly preempt states and localities from enforcing immigration law unless doing so with the consent of the federal government, and prevent states from enacting their own civil or criminal penalties for immigration violations.
Schumer said he hopes the legislation will not be necessary, “because I do believe the Supreme Court will decide SB 1070 is not constitutional.” The Supreme Court has consistently interpreted the naturalization language in Article I to mean that the establishment of the immigration laws and the manner of their execution are committed solely to the federal government, Schumer said...." (Read more? Click title)
