Jackson Free Press

Senate Bill 2988, a bill making felons out of employed undocumented immigrants and their employers, is now law. Mississippi Building and Construction Trade President David Newell says the law will help prevent the displacement of working U.S. citizens, while associations that represent employers say a law like this is going to present one more hoop to jump through on the way to filling a thin work schedule.

But exactly how enforceable is the law? Mary Bauer, director of the Immigrant Justice Project division of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in Montgomery, Ala., said it pushes the edge of constitutionality.

The federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 currently regulates how employers must verify immigration status. That law states: "The provisions of this section preempt any State or local law imposing civil or criminal sanctions upon those who employ, or recruit or refer for a fee for employment, unauthorized aliens." 8 U.S.C.A. §1324a(h)(2)

In short, any employer with the cash to fight to the U.S. Supreme Court is likely going to walk away with a neutralized Mississippi law and a smirk.

Just ask local authorities what they think. Arresting every undocumented worker will present a huge drain on county jails, and many jurisdictions don't have the resources to dedicate to roundup operations of employed people who, by nature, keep their heads down and follow the law very carefully. ICE could save the jails by deporting the fledgling felons, but that would make 2988 pointless because ICE can already deport identified undocumented workers.

The law, essentially, amounts to feel-good legislation, created to help Republicans form a wedge issue and help timid Democrats appease Hispanic-leery voters and the whooping orangutans of talk radio. Many legislators held their nose very tightly while approving it. But they still voted for it. Shamefully.

Byhalia Republican Tommy Woods asked how employers out in the field were supposed to check an employee's documentation without a laptop or Internet. Woods didn't get his question answered, but approved the bill anyway.

Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, exclaimed that voters seemed more attentive to Mexicans than Medicaid—which is currently dying of starvation in Mississippi, by the way. Then putting politics first, he voted for it anyway.

These elected officials seem to believe that if a majority of their voters have drunk the Kool-Aid, they have no choice but to vote for more Kool-Aid.

There is another way: Do the right, constitutional thing, and explain why. Talk up to your voters. Of course, that won't always bring cheap votes. But, hey.