By Laura DeKoven Waxman
July 2, 2012

Commenting that this is a time of great uncertainty regarding the nation's immigration laws and efforts to reform them, Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas, Chair of the Conference of Mayors Immigration Reform Task Force, indentified as the biggest uncertainty the upcoming Supreme Court decision in the case involving Arizona's immigration law and what portions, if any, of it the Court upholds. "Regardless of that decision, we're likely to see a lot of continued activities in the states," Salinas said. His comments came during the Task Force June 14 meeting in Orlando.

Briefing the Task Force on current immigration issues, Center for American Progress Director of Immigration Policy Marshall Fitz told the mayors that the Conference of Mayors immigration policy resolutions adopted over the last five years represent the "best, smartest thinking on immigration." He commented that two critical immigration issues are poised to converge: the Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. United States and the increasing pressure to stop deporting DREAM Act-eligible young people, which the President act on the day following the Task Force meeting.

On the Supreme Court decision, Fitz said that while he hopes all four provisions under review will be struck down, it's likely that the "papers please" provision, which requires police officers to request immigration papers from anyone they think may be in the country illegally, may be upheld. He commented that in addition to Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama have passed similar provisions and that immigrant communities, especially in those states, are in a "panic mode." He discussed the negative implications which this requirement would have for community policing and urged the mayors to assure their communities that their police departments will reject racial and ethnic profiling.

Fitz called on the Obama Administration, in the event that the "papers please provision is upheld, to send civil rights monitors to the states, make good on its promise one year ago to exercise prosecutorial discretion and prioritize deportations of those in the country illegally to those who have committed serious crimes, shut down the Secure Communities program (through which the FBI shares any fingerprints sent in by local police with Homeland Security to check against immigration data bases) in the states affected by the Supreme Court decision, and protect DREAMERS from being caught in the backfire of the decision.

Task Force Vice Chair André Pierre commented that Republican and Democratic mayors had come together the day before in calling for deferred action for DREAMERS and wondered why officials in Congress cannot similarly come together around immigration reform. Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig said that he did not want soccer mom's to fear arrest and discussed the problem for police caused by undocumented immigrants often being afraid to come forward to report serious crimes to the police.

Salinas and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima shared personal experiences they had including being stopped by law enforcement officers for no other reason than they "looked Mexican." Toward the end of the session, Salinas commented that it's "…important to know where you're headed, but don't ever forget where you come from."