Republican in Wisconsin Assembly proposing iimmigration bill modeled after Arizona law

Republican Assemblyman Don Pridemore is putting the final touches on a Wisconsin immigration bill. He says his draft bill is modeled after Arizona's immigration law, but less tough.

Pridemore says, "The motivator is frustration of trying to get the federal government to enforce their own laws. In this case they're not."

The Republican from Harford already wrote a second draft of a Wisconsin illegal immigration bill he plans to introduce in the Wisconsin Assembly in January.

Pridemore says, "Also dicouraging those people who might be leaving Arizona, looking for a more favorable state to come to, and we don't want Wisocnsin to be looked upon as favorable by these people."

Pridemore says "these people" is anyone in the United States illegally regardless of race or ethnicity.

Head of Voces De La Frontera, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, calls laws like this legalized profiling. Pridemore's bill would allow police to questions a person's immigration status the moment the individual runs a foul with the law.

Neumann-Ortiz says, "I think it raises concerns about due process rights. It raises concerns about civil rights violations."

From a traffic violation to a felony, a person would have to prove their citizenship or immigration status or else. Under Pridemore's bill a suspected illegal immigrant can be detained for up to 48 hours to give people a chance to prove they're legally in the United States."

Voces De La Frontera says it will fight the passage of a law similar to Arizona's illegal immigration bill.