State Police to learn how to identify fake documents
Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/Editorial/24165/
LITTLE ROCK — Personnel at the Arkansas State Police will take training courses to learn how to spot fraudulent identity documents presented by people from foreign countries.
Troopers, driver’s license examiners and radio operators will take the fourhour classes. About 600 of the 900 employees of the State Police will be trained in detecting fraudulent identification.
If they discover foreigners using fraudulent identity papers they will call federal authorities such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The federal agency would then determine whether to initiate deportation proceedings.
State officials are being careful not to take over federal responsibilities for immigration enforcement.
A major reason is the cost.
The Arkansas legislature approved Act 907 in 2005 to authorize the additional training for the State Police. In 2007 the legislature passed Act 157 to prohibit state agencies from contracting with any company that employs illegal immigrants.
But there is only so much state government can do in the area of immigration reform because federal laws supersede state laws.
Pressure is growing for Congress to enact new immigration laws, owing to an enormous influx of foreign workers and their families to the United States in recent years. So far, however, Congress has not done so.
Arkansas has seen tremendous growth in the number of Mexican and Central Americans who now work in poultry, timber, farming, construction and the service industries.
Illegal immigration is likely to be an issue in the 2009 legislative session, and could be an issue in the political campaigns later this year.
An Arkansas group is trying to place on the November general election ballot an initiated act that would require state agencies to verify an applicant’s citizenship before providing public benefits.
Last year Oklahoma passed one of the nation’s strictest immigration laws.
It makes it a felony to shelter or transport illegal immigrants and prohibits undocumented aliens from receiving certain benefits. Since it took effect in November many Hispanics have moved out of Oklahoma, according to press accounts.
The question of how the Arkansas legislature can legally respond to immigration is made difficult by the American federal system of government.
Federal law overrides state laws, yet Congress has yet to enact meaningful new federal laws.
As a result, states are enacting a patchwork of laws that vary from one state to the next.
According to a national clearinghouse, 44 states have enacted 244 separate laws on immigration. Specific provisions of state laws face potential challenges because they may conflict with existing federal statutes.
For example, there are federal laws that obligate states to provide education to all children regardless of their immigration status.
Those federal obligations do not apply to higher education, however. Attempts to allow immigrant children to pay in-state tuition and apply for scholarships have been controversial, even when those children have lived most of their lives in the state and attended public schools up to grade 12.
Contact me at HendrenK @ arkleg. state. ar. us or call me at 479-787-6500, ext. 30.