Report on State Laws Related to Immigration for First Quarter 2009

The National Conference of State Legislatures has released its 2009 Immigration-Related Bills and Resolutions in the States, dated as of April 22, 2009, and covering the first quarter of 2009.

The report is interesting in that is compares the states’ immigration-related activity over the past few years and helps us draw some conclusions on where the states are going with respect to immigration.  Overall, the report concludes that the amount of immigration-related proposals in first quarter of 2009 is consistent with the record number of bills and resolutions introduced during the first quarter of 2008.

The report provides a breakdown of the proposed bills and resolutions by category (education, employment, drivers licenses, law enforcement, etc.).  The report also goes on to list the name and a short description of immigration-related bills in a particular state.

Although immigration law is federal in nature, there are many immigration provisions that are left to the states (education, drivers licenses, etc.) and which directly affect the lives of immigrants in the U.S. and this report provides an useful tool to monitor recent developments and trends.