Most of the state immigration law proposals have failed.

Thunder and heavy rain have failed. Most of the state immigration law proposals have failed. Since the federal government has not taken action on immigration reform, states are trying to handle immigration issues on their own. Compared with 2…

Most of the state immigration law proposals failed. As the federal government has not taken action on immigration reform, states are trying to handle immigration issues on their own. Compared with six states in 2010, more than half of the states this year referred to Arizona's legislation. However, as states proposed one after another, the bills with the most stringent penalties almost all failed. The Associated Press reported that most of the state bills passed strengthened existing federal laws, but a few states did pass legislation to help illegal immigrants. Many immigration measures have been put on hold so state lawmakers can focus on the budget crisis. Plus business owners have come out strongly against tougher sanctions, fearing a loss of labor sources and an increase in paperwork. At the start of the year, high unemployment, a new Republican-dominated Congress and national resentment that the White House or Congress were failing to address the problem of illegal immigration led to Arizona's law being copied by other states. Louisiana Republican state Rep. Harrison claims that the federal government's inaction prompted him to enact state laws on immigration. However, Harrison and most other lawmakers' proposals ultimately failed, and most bills requiring companies to use the federal government's electronic verification system to check new employees' job qualifications also failed. Only a few states are serious about punishing employers. So far, only Georgia and Utah have passed comprehensive bills on immigration. South Carolina and Alabama are still considering it. Utah's law includes a provision allowing illegal immigrants to work, and the American Civil Liberties Union sued Utah over its enforcement provisions. For states looking to tighten immigration enforcement, the Georgia bill comes closest to the Arizona legislation, with its new law allowing local law enforcement officers to conduct immigration status checks on suspects who cannot present acceptable proof of identity. Similar to the 2007 Arizona legislation, Georgia also has a provision requiring employers with more than 10 employees to use E-verify by July 2013. Georgia's governor signed the bill into law this month, and opponents have threatened to sue the state. After the recent failure of the DREAM Act to legalize illegal immigrant students and young people in Washington, several states passed legislation this session to help illegal immigrant students. Maryland has approved state college tuition for illegal immigrants, Illinois may establish a private scholarship fund for them, and Connecticut has expanded the scope of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants to graduate schools. Oregon's bill to provide in-state tuition for immigrant immigrants passed the Senate but has not yet been sent to the House of Representatives. Arizona lawmakers are requiring school districts to indicate where students live, simply to prevent children living on the Mexican border from attending Arizona schools. Only Indiana has passed a law banning in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, but that was mostly a symbolic move. Most state immigration bills failed to pass, and the inability to reach a compromise was a key reason. But experts on both sides of the aisle mostly attribute the failure of these laws to business owners. "Business owners have not come out in the past to oppose it," said Jacob Jacobs, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national coalition of small business owners who mostly support immigration reform. Many Florida business owners say they fear the economic damage from a boycott organized by immigrant rights groups against travel to Arizona. In Arizona, 60 top business executives signed a letter to the state's Senate president calling for a moratorium on immigration legislation. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company is one of the companies that has spoken out against the Arizona-style bill. Last week, Indiana Governor Daniels signed milder legislation that would ban in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and end tax credits for businesses that employ illegal immigrants. In Utah, businesses helped create the Utah Compact. The agreement is similar to Arizona in enforcement, but allows illegal immigrants to work in the state. A judge froze the bill last week after a lawsuit from the Liberty Alliance. In fact, Florida's bill failed because the House and Senate failed to reach a compromise on the issue of E-verify. Indiana and Alabama are facing similar divisions with the House and Senate divided over employer measures. Ke Kuorui, executive director of the Immigration Research Center, which advocates strict restrictions on immigration, believes that many companies are worried about the implementation of E-verify and oppose these bills. Meanwhile, immigrants and their supporters are preparing to fight back. In Florida, farmworkers, students and other immigrants and activists spent weeks protesting at the state government during committee hearings, but there was also heavy lobbying behind the scenes. In Kansas, they quickly spread a YouTube video of Republican Rep. Pecker comparing illegal immigrants to wild pigs, which quickly triggered a national backlash and caused the bill there to fail. The Latino group Democracia USA ran ads opposing the bills in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Florida. Mossuri, the group's president, claimed that the bills in these states failed to answer basic questions. For example, whether families hiring nannies must use E-verify, or whether employers will be subject to unemployment insurance if a new employee is found to be ineligible to work. Democratic federal senators reintroduced the "Dream Act" in Washington last week, but it is unlikely to pass the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, and certainly not before the 2012 election.