Two IRLI Counsel Testify before Indiana Senate Select Committee on Immigration

April 19, 2016

Helping states deal with federal non-enforcement of immigration law

April 19, 2016

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) Dale Wilcox testified before a Select Committee in the Indiana Senate about the policy options available to local lawmakers in reigning in the effects of uncontrolled immigration in their state (testimony attached here). Wilcox was joined by fellow IRLI counsel and current Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach. Both IRLI representatives focused their testimony on current federal and state immigration law and their experience in working with state and local governments on ways to supplement federal enforcement measures.

Today’s hearing was the first for Indiana’s immigration committee, a panel recently created to explore options in dealing with the state’s increasingly destructive immigration situation. At the top of Wilcox and Kobach’s list of policy recommendations was the full implementation of state-based E-Verify, a program that requires employers to use a government website to check whether workers are actually eligible to work in the country. That program, in place to varying degrees in 17 states and partially in place in Indiana, Mr. Wilcox noted is central in deterring illegal aliens from entering and remaining in the state. The panel was also briefed on the threat to voter-integrity caused by the country’s unprecedented non-citizen population and the options available to state lawmakers to safeguard against voter-fraud. Mr. Kobach spoke of his own experience in implementing a Kansas law requiring new eligible voters to show some form of citizenship-proof before they register to vote.

Mr. Wilcox commented after the hearing, “We are honored to have had the opportunity to speak with Committee Chairman, Senator Mike Delph and other esteemed elected officials about the disastrous consequences of the federal government’s open-borders policy and what state lawmakers can do to help.” Wilcox continued, “We hope our attendance today will serve as a counterweight for the senators who usually only hear from narrowed corporate interests that profit from the wage-crushing effects of uncontrolled immigration.”