STATE AND LOCAL LAWS

Since 2001, state and local governments have played a growing role in the struggle of American citizens against illegal immigration. IRLI lawyers have specialized expertise in the development and drafting of immigration enforcement and relief measures being considered by state legislatures and local governments.

Too often, local activists have proposed immigration enforcement legislation without a proper grounding in the intricate relationship between federal and state law. IRLI provides local legal counsel with non-partisan technical support to ensure that proposed state or local legislation is constitutional and does not conflict with controlling federal law.

Since January 2006, IRLI has responded to requests for assistance in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and other states.

Until recently, immigration law has been primarily formed and interpreted by immigration lawyers who examined the issue solely through the lens of their non-citizen clients. Policymaking is housed in the judiciary committees in Congress, while in the Executive Branch, generally the Department of Justice and more recently the Department of Homeland Security have held sway. Little attention has been paid to the volume of immigration, and the aggregate impact of overall immigration on US population growth.

To assist policymakers in reforming current immigration laws, IRLI also provides public comments for executive agency regulatory rulemaking.

Broad public support for immigration law enforcement will continue to be frustrated so long as the rationale for immigration limitation remains underdeveloped within the law itself. Through the development of law review articles and legal issue briefs, IRLI contributes to development of a doctrinal framework which the legal community and the judiciary may rely upon to consider the broader national interest when interpreting and formulating immigration law.