TERRE HAUTE — Hoosier municipal government leaders want the Indiana legislature to keep from becoming law an Arizona-style immigration bill that passed Tuesday in the Indiana Senate and is now before the Indiana House.
The approximately 70-member legislative affairs committee of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns voted unanimously to urge state lawmakers not to pass a bill they say would impose significant new costs on local governments.
“We, as an association, clearly agree that it is the responsibility of the federal government, not the hard-pressed cities and towns, to enforce federal immigration law,” said Matt Greller, president of IACT. Speaking Tuesday to the Tribune-Star, Greller said those voting for the resolution represented a wide cross-section of Hoosier local government officials.
Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, who is a member of IACT’s legislative committee but was not in Indianapolis last Friday for the vote, agrees cities cannot currently afford any additional costs.
“At this point in time with our strained budgets, any additional work that is passed down to the local level either from the federal or state government would have a negative impact on a budget,” Bennett said.
The Indiana Senate voted 31 to 18 in favor of Senate Bill 590, which gives local police the authority to ask a person for proof of immigration status if they have reason to suspect that person is in the U.S. illegally.
IACT members have a variety of views on immigration, Greller said. As a result, IACT took a “surgical approach” in its resolution, emphasizing the costs that cities and towns would face enforcing immigration laws. “Our members just cannot handle more fiscal demands,” Greller said.
Bennett also believes that immigration should be handled by the national government.
“Obviously I think that immigration is a federal issue, and I don’t think they are doing their job,” Bennett said. “They seem to be ignoring it, and now states are having to take matters into their own hands and that’s unfortunate.”
Opponents of the proposed immigration measure, introduced by Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, believe it will require the hiring of hundreds of new police officers across Indiana. Supporters say it would only enforce immigration laws already in place. The immigration bill has also met resistance from Eli Lilly, the Indianapolis-based drug maker, and Cummins Inc., according to the Alliance for Immigration Reform in Indiana.