Republicans campaign on Arizona-style immigration reform

Congressional candidate Jason Allen and Secretary of State candidates State Sens. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) and Cameron Brown (R-Sturgis) are sponsors of a Senate bill that would enact Arizona-style immigration reforms in Michigan.

The Immigration Law Enforcement Act, SB1388, and its companion House bill 6256 would require all police to enforce federal immigration laws and require them to request immigration papers from anyone they suspect of being in the county illegally.

According to Emily Carney, legislative director for McManus, the law mirrors legislation recently enacted in Arizona.

That law has prompted protests, boycotts and legal challenges by groups who claim it is unfair and will promote racial profiling.

Carney said that the McManus office has received e-mails and phone calls with positive feedback about the bill.

Jeremy Hendges, spokesman for Jason Allen’s congressional campaign, described the candidate’s take on immigration policy this way:

“From the national security angle, we need to make sure we are not letting in drug dealers, human traffickers, and terrorists. People who are coming here and not working legally — they are not paying in to tax system they should not be expecting to be using all these benefits without paying in the system that you and I pay into.”

Hendges acknowledged that Michigan does not have a serious problem with illegal immigration.

“Look at the southern border,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate in Michigan that we haven’t had a lot of trouble.”

Hendges said that while people do sometimes mention immigration on the campaign trail, “the number one issue hands down is jobs and the economy.”

Critics say that the immigration legislation backed by the term-limited state senator will actually harm the state’s damaged economy by creating a social climate that is hostile to all immigrants.

Susan E. Reed, staff attorney for the Michigan Poverty Law Program’s Michigan Immigrant Rights Project, said that those who are worried about illegal immigrants using state services are not considering the full impact of immigrants on the state economy.

“Undocumented immigrants also pay taxes and contribute to the economy with their labor, in some cases subsidizing and sustaining whole industries (consider Michigan agriculture),“ she said. “A big picture view shows us that that the foreign born (documented and undocumented) are some of the only good news in Michigan’s rusting, graying economy/work force, and that legislation that targets immigrants is generally unwelcoming.”

A recent study on the economic impact of immigrants on Michigan’s economy — funded by the New Economy Initiative, the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Skillman Foundation — found that “southeast Michigan’s foreign born residents provide enormous contributions to the region’s economic growth and will play a key role in our economic future.”

… the U.S. Small Business Administration indicates that 15.8 percent of all Michigan businesses started between 1996 and 2007 were started by an immigrant. In 2000, these businesses produced over $1.5 billion in annual business income. Michigan’s foreign born were more than three times as likely as non-immigrants to start a new business during this time.

The study suggested that Michigan should make attracting and retaining immigrants part of its economic recovery strategy and recommended the state take steps to make immigration regulations easier to navigate and explore ways of convincing the many foreign born students at Michigan colleges and universities to stay in the state after they graduate.

Besides harming the state’s economy by making it less attractive to immigrants, Reed said that the bill could have a negative impact on public safety by causing more people to avoid police.

“It is unproductive for police to be identified with immigration law enforcement,“ she said. “It makes victims and witnesses fearful and less likely to report violent crime.”

Reed said that people who are in the country legally may avoid contact with police if they fear that friends or neighbors may be caught up in immigration law enforcement.

Tom Hendrickson of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police told Michigan Messenger that the legislation is likely to be viewed with skepticism by law enforcement in the state.

“I can’t see law enforcement in Michigan being receptive,” Hendrickson said. “Law enforcement is very sensitive to any type of racial profiling situation that might be encouraged … Legislation such as Arizona’s exasperates the whole situation as some provisions allow for, calls for racial profiling.”

Observers from across the political spectrum agree that the measure is unproductive as policy but say that it could win support for the Republican campaigns.

Wayne State University professor and political columnist Jack Lessenberry says the legislation is “immigrant bashing” and “silly” and that Michigan should instead be encouraging immigration as a way to increase the population and rebuild the economy.

Bill Ballenger, former Republican state senator and editor of Inside Michigan Politics, says that it may be a smart move politically regardless of the policy’s effectiveness.

“Jack Lessenberry is probably correct intellectually,” he said, “but politically he’s on the losing side on this one.”

Ballenger said that support for the legislation would help the candidates in a Republican primary or Republican convention and will probably help them against Democrats with more moderate immigration positions in a general election.

Lessenberry agrees. Asked how Allen’s immigrant position would affect his chances in the congressional election Lessenberry said, “It may well help him, because the vast majority of the population is woefully ignorant.”