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Senate approves tough
immigration bill
By Tom Loftus - tloftus@courier-journal.com +
January 7, 2011
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Senate approved
controversial legislation Friday that would
expand the state's authority to enforce federal
immigration law, sending it to the House where
it faces uncertain prospects at best.
The vote on Senate Bill 6 was 24-14, with all
Republicans voting yes and all Democrats except
Sen. Ray Jones of Pikeville voting no.
Most Democrats warned that the cost of the bill
for state and local governments has not been d
etermined — and they said that cost will be big.
But the bill's sponsor, Sen. John Schickel, R-
Union, said the growing problem of illegal
immigration is an urgent threat to the safety of
Kentuckians.
“We must protect our citizens, even if it's
inconvenient, uncomfortable or too costly to do
so,” Schickel said.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg,
said after the Senate vote that in his chamber SB
6 has “a lot of hills to climb. Aside from the
policy issues involved, there's a concern about
the fiscal impact of the bill.”
The measure includes provisions that authorize
police to attempt to determine a person's
immigration status if he or she is stopped for
another reason, such as a traffic violation, and is
suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
It also bans communities from adopting
ordinances to limit immigration enforcement,
creates the offense of trespassing for those in
the state without legal status and makes it a
crime for anyone to assist such a person in
coming to live in the state.
The bill is modeled on a controversial Arizona
law, the enforcement of which was blocked last
summer by a federal judge.
Among other things, that law requires state
officers to check a person’s immigration status
while enforcing other laws and mandates that
immigrants carry their papers at all times.
Supporters of the Kentucky bill said at a packed
Senate committee hearing on Thursday that
illegal immigrants are driving up the costs of
such things as emergency medical care and other
community services.
Opponents, including the Catholic Conference of
Kentucky, said it offers only punitive measures
with no solutions for law-abiding undocumented
immigrants.
“Not only does it do nothing to repair the
damage we suffer because federal lawmakers
failed to act (on the problem), it damages the
social fabric of our Kentucky community,” the
Catholic Conference said in a statement Friday.
In the Senate on Friday, it was the cost issue that
was the main point raised by Democrats who
opposed the bill.
Senate Democratic Floor Leader R.J. Palmer of
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Winchester unsuccessfully tried to delay the vote “What this bill really does is send a message,”
on SB 6 because he said it did not carry a Jensen said. “It sends a message to the rest of
thorough fiscal impact statement, as required by our country and to foreign countries that we do
Senate rules. not tolerate people coming into this country
illegally.”
However, Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-
Manchester, said a legislative staff analysis of Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-
the impact on the corrections systems for the 5136.How they voted
original version of SB 6 was sufficient to meet The vote on Senate Bill 6, to expand authority of
Kentucky law enforcement on immigration law.
Republicans for (22): Bowen, Buford, Carpenter,
Denton, Gibson, Givens, Harris, Higdon, Hornback,
the Senate's rules.
Still, Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said passing Jensen, Kerr, McGaha, Schickel, Seum, Smith, Stine
the bill would lead to higher costs for jails, local Stivers, Thayer, Westwood, Williams, Wilson, Winters
law enforcement, courts, and social service Republicans against: None
Democrats for (1): Jones
agencies. Democrats against (14): Blevins, Carroll, Clark,
Harper Angel, Neal, Palmer, Parrett, Pendleton,
“It's one of the most fiscally irresponsible things Rhoads, Ridley, Shaughnessy, Stein, Turner, Webb
we can do this session,” she said. Independent for: Leeper
Sen. Jerry Rhoads, D-Madisonville, said the bill is
“actually a much harsher, stricter bill than the
Arizona bill.”
Jones said he voted for the bill because illegal
immigration is a serious problem that should be
addressed this session. But he also warned that
the bill carries an undetermined cost.
“And it's going to take money out of higher
education, it's going to take money out of
elementary and secondary education, it's going
to take money from state police, it's going to
take money from our local governments,” Jones
said. Advertisement
But Schickel said the bill would also reduce SUSA TODAY.
certain costs now being paid. e
“Think of the fiscal impact of what we are doing U | (@)
now ... filling up our emergency rooms with
people that are illegal aliens and have no
insurance, the fiscal impact of people being |
illegally in our schools,” he said.
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Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, said that despite his
reservations about some details in the bill, it
represents an important step in addressing a
serious problem.
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