One group wants the state civil rights commission to show support for national immigration standards.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Immigration advocates have asked the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to help push for national immigration reform and to keep anti-immigration legislation off the books in Iowa.

Sandra Sanchez, a coordinator for the Immigrants Voice Project, said that so far this year, 500 pieces of immigration legislation have been introduced at statehouses around the country. Many are redundant because federal legislation is already in place, she said.

"What we are seeing, basically, is a very politicized issue that is being used in many legislatures for political advantages in midterm elections," she said.

Lori Chesser, a lawyer with the Immigrant Rights Network, told the commission that there needs to be more education about immigration. She said many people misunderstand immigration laws, and believe it's easy for illegal immigrants to gain legal status. However, she said it can take many years for that to happen, even if they have family in the United States or a company wishing to sponsor them.

"It's not simply that people can't fill out a form or don't want to fill out a form or stand in a line," she said.

Because the nation offers such limited ways of entering the country, Chesser said "the economic policy of the federal government has become illegal immigration."

Chesser and Sanchez both warned that cracking down on the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States would be detrimental to the country's economy, which they said depends upon illegal immigrants to perform jobs that many U.S. citizens don't want to do, and that a shrinking work force won't be able to fill.

"It is not a good policy to get rid of these workers," Sanchez said. "It would be a better policy to ensure that they have legal documentation to work and live here legally."

She praised Iowa for establishing welcome centers for new Iowans and taking part in international panels on immigration issues. Iowa lawmakers also passed what she called the only "positive human trafficking law in the United States," during the past session.

Chesser said the commission should push the state to establish an identification program for illegal immigrants, allowing them to get car insurance, housing and utilities.

The tasks could be a challenge for a commission that's had its lowest level of funding and staffing in 20 years, said Alicia Claypool, a commissioner from West Des Moines.

"We thought it was important that we should try to educate ourselves about the dimensions of the immigration issue," she said. "It's very broad ... very complicated, very controversial."