Arizona Kills Conservative Immigration Bills
Arizona put itself at the forefront of the immigration debate last year when it passed the controversial bill SB 1070. The bill made it a state crime to be an illegal alien and required state enforcement officials to inquire about a suspect's residency status. Looking to take it a step further, conservatives in the Arizona legislature introduced five new bills that would have restricted illegal immigration even more. All five, however, were rejected by Democrats and enough Republicans to turn the tide of Arizona's push towards extended immigration legislation. SB 1611 was introduced by Senator Russell Pearce, the same lawmaker who introduced SB 1070 last year, and sought to bar illegal immigrants from Arizona colleges and universities and would have required grade school teachers to inquire about their students' residency status and report illegal immigrants. Furthermore, SB 1611 would have restricted illegal immigrants from purchasing and driving a vehicle. Senate Bills 1405 and 1406, both introduced by Senator Steve Smith would have required hospital workers to report illegal immigrants and asked the Arizona Department of Education to provide reports to the state Congress showing how many illegal immigrant students were enrolled in public schools statewide and to outline how much the state spent on them. SB 1308 and 1309 were introduced as a package by Senator Ron Gould and addressed the hotly-debated issue of birthright citizenship. These two bills would have challenged the 14th amendment, the amendment that gives every child born on U.S. soil U.S. citizenship, and would have forced the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue.

Strong Opposition from the Arizona Population
All five bills came up against strong opposition from the Arizona population. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce officially opposed all of them, fearing that further restrictive immigration would have negative economic consequences. Last year, after the passage of SB 1070, the Arizona tourism lost millions in revenues and cancelled conventions. A letter written by 60 Arizona CEO's protested the bills saying, "Arizona's lawmakers and citizens are right to be concerned about illegal immigration. But we must acknowledge that when Arizona goes it alone on this issue, unintended consequences inevitably occur." The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association came forward with their opinions about SB 1405, saying that inquiring about their 3.5 million annual patient's residency status would be unreasonably difficult and, furthermore, seemed unnecessary. Protests about the bills dealing with education came even up against opposition from children who, in Tucson and Flagstaff, staged sit-ins to protest the bills.

Arizona Lawmakers said they Wouldn't Give up
While disappointed, conservative Arizona lawmakers said they wouldn't give up and might try again. Senator Ron Gould, when asked if he would make another attempt at passing illegal immigration legislation next year, he said, "Maybe we'll put everybody through the same misery one more time." And Senator Russell Pearce, Arizona's foremost anti-immigration legislator responded to a similar question, saying, "It took me a while on 1070 too. I introduced it in '05, '06, '07, '08, '09, and 2010 before we had a governor that would sign it. And we've become the envy of this nation with 25 states writing legislation modeled after 1070.