Lawmaker: Trespassing bill too harsh for some illegal immigrants

PHOENIX --Legislators are moving to relax the penalties in a bill that would apply the state's trespassing law to illegal immigrants. One prominent lawmaker says the proposed law needs to be softened because it would be unfair and unrealistic to expect to jail those who have been in this country for years.

It would make sense to apply a strict enforcement measure to newly arrived illegal immigrants but much more troublesome to go after people in this country for many years while the United States effectively ignored illegal immigration, House Majority Leader Steve Tully said.

"Going forward we need a law like this," the Phoenix republican said. "But to change the law overnight but without any recognition of the way that people have changed their lives in reliance of policies of non-enforcement can cause some problems."

Strict enforcement of the measure, if it were to become law, would lead to troubling situations where officials are faced with children who were born here legally to illegal immigrant parents, Tully said. "Do you send Mom back?"

Another concern is that a human smuggling law enacted last year to target smugglers is now being used in Maricopa County to prosecute immigrants who paid smugglers, Tully said.

"With that backdrop, it gives me concern about how this might be enforced," Tully said.

Under the bill introduced by Republican Sen. Barbara Leff and 25 other Republican legislators, an illegal immigrant anywhere in Arizona would be guilty of a felony. The bill would allow law enforcement authorities to either prosecute the person or turn him or her over to a federal agency for deportation.

However, Leff said she's agreed to soften the penalties at Tully's urging to broaden support for the bill, which barely cleared the House. A first-time offense would be a misdemeanor and the class of felony for subsequent violations would be lower than previously proposed.

Tully said he hopes that softening the penalties would mean that illegal immigrants likely would face deportation, not prosecution.

A House-Senate conference committee on Tuesday will consider an amendment to implement the change. The House and Senate each have approved versions of the bill but also would have to take new votes on a revised version.

Passage of the bill would send it to Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who last year vetoed a bill to give local and state law enforcement the ability to enforce federal immigration laws.

Leff said the bill is intended as "a second line of defense" behind the Border Patrol to help Arizona authorities cope with immigration-related crime, particularly in border counties.

Leff said she anticipates most immigrants arrested under the law would be deported instead of prosecuted.

Opponents say the idea won't result in significant changes and that a similar strategy flopped last year in New Hampshire because states don't have the authority to enforce federal immigration law.

She said she got the idea for her bill after hearing similar criticism of previous proposals to involve state and local law enforcement authorities in the fight against illegal immigration.

"Under the proposal, it becomes a state crime," she said.