We’re more than half-way through the session and finally one of the key issues of the session has been teed up for consideration. The issue is illegal immigration and whether Kansas will join a number of other states in moving ahead on an issue that Congress has failed to handle. While laws passed by Congress suggest that states are pre-empted from enacting their own laws addressing illegal immigration, the federal government has utterly failed to enforce its own laws and as a result, states have had to deal with the issue on their own.
The cost to taxpayers of illegal immigration is huge, with millions of individuals accessing taxpayer paid welfare, health and educational benefits while failing to have legal resident status. On the other hand, American employers, including thousands in Kansas, depend on immigrants to perform hard-to-fill employment positions and fear what may result if there is a sudden crackdown on illegal immigration. Federal law already prohibits employers from knowingly employing illegal immigrants but there is little true enforcement. Employers may, on a voluntary basis, sign up for an internet based employee verification system called E-Verify, which allows employers to access a website to confirm the legal status of a proposed worker. However, the system is not fool-proof and does not guarantee against identity theft. Still, several states have proposed making the E-Verify system mandatory such that all employers in the state would be required to verify prospective employees or face possible fines and penalties. Several of the bills pending in Kansas have this provision. Kansas business leaders are concerned about the possible mandate of a system that is known to contain errors and are concerned about provisions in proposed bills that would impose criminal penalties on businesses where honest hiring mistakes were made but knowledge of illegal hiring is imputed to the business based on circumstantial evidence.
Also controversial are provisions in some of the proposed legislation that would deny certain educational benefits, such as in-state tuition, to children of illegal immigrants. Kansas currently allows for in-state tuition at the Regents institutions for children of undocumented immigrants as long as they attended and graduated from a Kansas high school. The practice has been not to penalize the children for their parents’ status but the policy has been criticized as being, for example unfair to the children of soldiers stationed in Kansas but who do not qualify for in-state tuition. Less controversial are the provisions that would deny public state or local benefits to those without legal residential status.
Both the Senate and House have had hearings on proposed legislation to crack down on illegal immigration. Surrounding states have already passed legislation in one form or another. All are expected to face legal challenges by those who will argue that Federal law pre-empts state law. It remains to be seen whether the Kansas House & Senate will reach agreement this year on an immigration package. Public support for legislation is strong, particularly as it relates to denial of taxpayer paid benefits to those not in the country legally.