Some places revisit immigration laws

State lawmakers have proposed hundreds of immigration laws since 2005. Not many have been enacted and many of those are being reconsidered. DP

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

Some states, cities and counties that plunged into the immigration debate are having second thoughts.

In Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, lawmakers have repealed or modified measures that cracked down on illegal immigrants or made English the official language. In Iowa and Utah, legislators are proposing similar reversals.

They cite various reasons, including the time and expense of fighting legal challenges, the cost of implementing the measures while tightening their budgets and the barrage of publicity and accusations of racism that come with such laws.

"For us to spend our time pitting neighbor against neighbor was a sacrilege," says Judith Camp, a city councilwoman in Oak Point, Texas, about 35 miles north of Dallas, who voted to kill the city's English-only resolution in December. The measure, adopted in 2007 on a 3-2 vote, was rescinded on a 3-2 vote. "We're just a tiny little city and we were getting a lot of negative publicity."

Muzaffar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute, which analyzes immigration trends and policies, says some states and communities are "taking a more skeptical view" of immigration laws because of the legal costs and attention.

Most state and local laws that passed as federal reform failed remain in place, and some communities have mounted expensive campaigns to keep them. Farmers Branch, Texas, has steadfastly defended its ordinances despite legal challenges and public protests.
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