Dan McFeely, writing for the Indy Star, has a fairly long article on the Interim Study Committee on Immigration Issues’ recent hearing. Legislators were cautioned that their options were potentially limited in the area of immigration regulations by federal preemption. So, Indiana could well find itself spending millions of dollars on enforcing whatever illegal immigration legislation it passes only to find that it had no authority to attempt regulating this area.
The number of illegal immigrants in Indiana has increased from maybe 85,000 to maybe 100,000 in the last decade. The numbers are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. There was apparently a fair amount of discussion of the total Hispanic population in Indiana which ought to be irrelevant, but clearly isn’t since at least some of the concern over illegal immigration is fueled by a more general sort of xenophobia where those concerned aren’t really kept awake at night by whether Hispanics have a piece of paper saying the federal government approves their presence, but really by the fact that the cultural composition of their communities are changing. Lake, Cass, Clinton, and Elkhart Counties have Hispanic populations that are greater than 10%.
The gubernatorial candidates responded to the issue delicately. Gov. Daniels says that the legislature should proceed cautiously and gather more facts, but said he said Indiana needs more people who are willing to work hard. (Apparently all our hard workers are employed? Just the lazy ones are unemployed? Is this an unfair inference? Probably.) Jill Long Thompson said that the legislature shouldn’t impose burdens on small businesses, making them police whether their employees are here legally.
The committee will hold three more hearings.
What strikes me is that, after all the sound and fury over the past year or two, immigration seems almost dead as an issue this election season.
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