Proving that Florida Republicans can continue to hammer on illegal immigration this election season, Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum led the way at a press conference/conference call this morning, introducing a tough new law that will be presented during next spring's regular legislative session that McCollum hinted will be tougher than Arizona's controversial new law, who a federal judge recently struck down provisions of.
McCollum said the new law would mandate that that police officers stopping a motorist or pedestrian, would have to check to see if the person's status is legal or illegal. "They have to have a reasonable suspicion,"McCollum said. " And there is a specific area in the bill that there shall not be any racial profiling."
The AG said that a person who is asked and is not carrying his/or her "papers" would be guilty of committing a misdemeanor. And he said that there are several provisions not in Arizona law. "Arizona is going to want this law," he said. He also said that the new law will allow judges to recognize immigration status . "If its grand theft, it goes from 3rd degree to 2nd degree felony," McCollum said. The proposed law would also require Florida businesses to use E-Verify the Internet-based system that allows an employer to verify the immigration status of an employee.
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.