New Report Calls on State and Local Governments to Do More to Fight Illegal Immigration

By Dan Stein, FAIR President
A new report from The Heritage Foundation's Matt Mayer entitled "Controlling Illegal Immigration: State and Local Governments Must Do More" argues that state and local governments can - and should- do more to help stem the tide of illegal immigration.

According to Mayer, states and localities should seek to fight illegal immigration "with tough laws against employing, housing, and aiding illegal aliens and even tougher laws criminalizing all aspects of human trafficking." The report argues that Congress should aid state and local governments "not by passing an amnesty reform package, but by amending the statutory (not constitutional) provisions that limit the actions" that states and localities can take to fight illegal immigration. FAIR's legal affiliate the Immigration Reform Law Institute has, as one mission, the development of a range of state and local initiatives that can do just that. Unfortunately, Heritage's Mayer also suggests that Congress should seek to solve the illegal immigration problem "by increasing the legal means for foreigners to come to the United States to work" - a suggestion that not only misconstrues the nature of how migration happens, but would only continue to displace American workers and exert downward pressure on American wages.