The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on immigration has officials in many states mulling over its impact. The matter was the topic of discussion this week on KET’s Kentucky Tonight.
Louisville immigration lawyer Becka O’Neil joined three others on the program and shared her thoughts on the issue…
“I think this really affirms centuries of precedent which has said the federal government is the body which makes our immigration law...and policy and states may not legislate in that area...so it wasn’t a big surprise to me or other immigration attorneys or people familiar with immigration law,” says O'Neil.
State Senator John Schickel also joined the discussion. He has sponsored illegal immigration legislation in Kentucky, and he says it’s a case of a sovereign state trying to protect its borders. Meanwhile, Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettel says the so called ‘show me your papers’ issue is not a new concept.
“And I think what was disingenuous about that entire argument that was going on was that the federal government already has a 24 seven hotline set up for state and local governments so that they can check the immigration status of people whenever they need to check that,” says Goettel.
Kate Miller with the Kentucky chapter of the ACLU also joined the discussion. She says, “just because the Supreme Court hasn’t thrown out the ‘show me your paper provision' yet, doesn’t mean that they won’t.” You can hear a full broadcast of KET’s Kentucky Tonight every Tuesday at noon on WKMS.
