Source: Center for American Progress
For nearly 150 years, the U.S. federal government has been pre-eminent in immigration policy. At the same time, Congress and the Supreme Court have also granted limited room for states to regulate the lives and livelihoods of immigrants residing within their borders, such as issuing business licenses and providing health and welfare services.
In the past decade, state and local governments have produced a flurry of legislation related to immigrants and immigration. Much of the legislation between 2004 and 2012 was restrictive in nature, making it more difficult for immigrants to reside in communities, work, and live their daily lives. Several cities, for example, imposed penalties on landlords who rented to unauthorized immigrants and employers who hired them.
These restrictionist laws reached a fever pitch when Arizona passed its comprehensive anti-immigrant bill, S.B. 1070, in 2010, and states such as Alabama and Georgia passed copycat laws the following year. S.B. 1070 and other similar legislation pursued a stated strategy of “attrition through enforcement” by making it a crime to be without legal status and authorizing local police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country without authorization.
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