Voters in two US states Tuesday Nov. 4 defeated immigration-related ballot measures. In Arizona, Proposition 202 would have revoked the business licenses of employers that knowingly hire undocmented immigrants and would have strengthened penalties for identity theft. But in Florida, a referendum intended to protect immigrant rights went down to defeat. Amendment No. 1 would have changed the state constitution, deleting a provision allowing lawmakers to prohibit ownership of real property by undocumented immigrants. The Florida Legislature had never exercised its authority under the 1926 provision, enacted as a measure against Asian Americans.
Voters in two other states split on ballot measures that would affect many immigrants by requiring the use of the English language in official settings. In Missouri, a referendum that passed overwhelmingly will establish English as the official state language, to be used at “all governmental meetings at which any public business is discussed, decided, or public policy is formulated.” In Oregon, voters apparently defeated an initiative that would have prohibited public school students from being taught in a language other than English for more than two years. (Jurist, NYT, Nov. 5)
See our last post on the politics of immigration.
WW4 Report has written a misleading article
WW4 Report has written a misleading article for at least 2 reasons.
Prop 202 in Arizona was opposed by pro-enforcement immigration groups. Prop 202 was promoted by the Chamber of Commerce and other groups and would have removed critical enforcement measures like mandatory use of E-Verify. The headline “Arizona defeats anti-immigrant measure” is incorrect in that the defeated referendum would have gutted existing immigration enforcement measures.
Amendment 1 in Florida was essentially an exercise in political correctness to remove unused language dealing with alien property ownership and did not protect “immigrant rights.” See http://www.flimen.org for more information on Amendment 1.
Thanks for the good news
There does seem to be some ambiguity as to why the Arizona initiative was defeated, although the “pro-enforcement” crowd seems to have been divided on it. It seems it was a compromise measure that stiffened penalties on employers, while also loosening standards for what constitutes “knowingly” hiring undocumented immigrants. From YourWestValley.com of Phoenix, Nov. 5:
So perhaps the “no” vote was split between those who support immigrants’ rights and those who felt the proposed law was too weak.
A Nov. 3 letter to the Arizona Republic protesting the paper’s no-on-202 stance argued that it would have “closed loopholes” in the existing law. That law was passed by the state legislature last year, and was greeted with glee by Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his posse. The Republic reported Oct. 27 that Gov. Janet Napolitano, who signed the 2007 sanctions bill, didn’t take a position on Proposition 202 (also known as the Stop Illegal Hiring Act). And that, contrary to the commenter’s assertion, neither did the state Chamber of Commerce.
As for the Florida initiative, the New York Times Nov. 6, after the defeat, provides a rather different perspective from the commentor’s: