How close to Arizona's will be a Florida immigration law?

Arizona's approach to cracking down on illegal immigration is unconstitutional and would be unworkable in Florida, a law professor warned state lawmakers on Monday at their first of several planned hearings on the hot-button issue.

Illegal immigration promises to be one of the toughest, and possibly most divisive, topics lawmakers will tackle during their spring legislative session. The long-controversial issue gained new prominence last year when Arizona adopted a law requiring police, while in the process of enforcing other laws, to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

Then-candidate Rick Scott, who supports the Arizona approach, quickly made the issue a centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign, which resonated with many conservatives. Several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Bennett of Bradenton, have since drafted state bills resembling Arizona's law, and more immigration bills are expected to surface.

"There are some 'good' illegals in our country, and some bad illegals in our country," Bennett said Monday. "The ones I want to get rid of are the criminals."

But Florida International University law professor Ediberto Roman, an expert on immigration issues, told the panel of senators that immigration law remains fundamentally the jurisdiction of the federal government.

"The state of Arizona has told the federal government, 'You have failed in immigration (enforcement), so therefore, we will set our own policies, irrespective of what you say and what you think," Ronan said, calling the law both "reactionary" and "unconstitutional." He predicted the courts will ultimately strike it down.

Bringing such a law to Florida, he said, would be even more problematic. Among the problems he cited: the potentially devastating impact such a law would have on foreign tourism.

"The economy thrives on foreign tourists, and not only would an Arizona-type law hurt us in terms of public relations, it would hurt us in terms of real dollars," Roman said.

Other problems, he said, are the fundamental differences between Arizona's immigrant population and Florida's.

Tens of thousands of immigrants in Florida are from Cuba, he said, and their protected status makes it impossible to send them back. Florida's considerable population of Haitians likewise enjoys temporary special protections; forcing local police constantly to check people's immigration status would be a waste of time and resources, he said.

The professor's comments did little to quell the concerns of some senators on the panel about crime and economic problems resulting from illegal immigration.

"Right now, we have a real need for some quick action, if not immediate," said Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla.

"States are frustrated," said Sen. John Thrasher, adding that he shares in that frustration personally. "I can understand, given the circumstances in Arizona, why they did what they did."

Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, bristled at Ronan's contention that businesses are making the problem worse by seeking cheap labor among illegal immigrants.

"I think that's the wrong place to look. I think (the problem) starts some place before it ever gets to that point."

The Senate panel, created specially to probe the immigration question, did not take up any legislation, nor did it permit public testimony, though Chairwoman Aniterecq Flores, R-Miami, said such input is expected at later meetings.

This first hearing, billed as a fact-finding mission, centered around expert testimony from state and federal officials on issues ranging from the impact of illegal immigrants on Florida's health care and prison systems to the legally mandated K-12 education of all immigrants, documented or otherwise.

As committee staff informed the panel at the start of the meeting, the population of illegal immigrants has actually fallen from 2007 to 2009 -- nationally, by 8 percent, and in Florida, by 25 percent. Reasons for the decline may include stepped-up enforcement and the U.S. recession.

On the flip side, however, the national number is one-third larger than it was in 2000, and has tripled since 1990. In Florida, the number is now estimated in the range of 600,000 to 725,000, while nationally it is between 10.6 million and 11. 6 million -- in both cases, about 3.7 percent of the total population.

According to the state Department of Corrections, there were 5,641 undocumented aliens in Florida's prison system as of Nov. 30, out of a total 101,613 inmates. Sixty-three percent had committed a violent crime.

Juan Pablo Chavez, a Tampa-based organizer for the Florida Immigration Coalition who was in the audience at Monday's hearing, said he hopes lawmakers also will listen to presentations on the benefits, economic and otherwise, that immigrants bring to their communities.

Chavez said he was content to wait until future meetings to make his case. But he had little patience for proposals to bring Arizona-style immigration law to Florida.

"Sen. Bennett -- he's ignoring part of the Floridians who are in Miami, who are in Tampa, who are Latinos born and raised in this country," Chavez said. "If they pass something similar to Arizona, they will legalize racial profiling."

cwhittenburg@tampatrib.com

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