Fernando Garcia (Courtesy photo)
In preparation for the New Mexico legislative session beginning Jan. 17, Sen. Fischmann pre-filed an updated guest worker bill that is deeply flawed.
Senator Steve Fischmann held a town hall meeting last week in Las Cruces for Southern New Mexico residents in anticipation for the upcoming legislative session.
And residents of District 37 had plenty of hard questions about the virtue and practicality of his state-based immigration proposal.
In preparation for the New Mexico legislative session beginning Jan. 17, Sen. Fischmann pre-filed an updated guest worker bill that is deeply flawed.
The Border Network for Human Rights has analyzed the bill and is reviewing its consequences in all its human rights committees throughout Doña Ana County.
Some major provisions of the bill include a guest-worker program, guest-worker fund, a family-registry system and screening through the controversial “S-Comm” program, a driving-privilege card for immigrants, and benefits screening.
If passed by state legislators and signed by Gov. Susana Martinez, the bill would not take effect unless the federal government agrees to allow New Mexico to implement the law at all.
NM can do better than Arizona
BNHR recognizes that attempts at regulating immigration at the state level are patently unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing states that have passed immigration policy. It is unlikely that DOJ or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will grant any waivers to states allowing state-based immigration policies.
This development should be another alert to Congress and the president that a comprehensive federal solution can no longer wait.
Aside from the legal implications, many provisions of the bill are very controversial, such as the employer sanctions. The bill would make the job-killing “E-Verify” program mandatory for employers and create a NM-Verify system.
Furthermore, it would implement the “Arizona” approach of dragnet enforcement. There is no wisdom in codifying and expanding “S-Comm,” a program that remains under federal investigation and has been both suspended and rejected in some jurisdictions.
The proposal would also allow for discrimination. Institutionalizing differentiated driver’s licenses for immigrants creates the opportunity for profiling.
Arizona and Maricopa County are examples of how state-based immigration laws allow for abuses of civil and constitutional abuses by local officials. The DOJ found that the county sheriffs practiced racial profiling and targeted Hispanics under the guise of immigration enforcement.
New Mexico Can Do Better than Arizona.
A dangerous gamble
BNHR believes that one community cannot be sacrificed for another. New Mexico should not go backwards and treat one segment of the community as second-class. All New Mexicans will prosper when immigrants are fully integrated into the social, economic and political systems.
It is given that the impetus for this bill was the fabricated crisis that the governor created regarding drivers licenses for immigrants. We believe that a license to drive has nothing to do with immigration. Attempts by some lawmakers to “compromise” with the governor are a dangerous gamble.
Fernando Garcia is the executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an organization based in communities in Southern New Mexico. He has been a leader and community organizer for human rights on the border for 14 years.