"I'm going to study it, and I'm going to consider it," Abdallah said of the Arizona law.
Others say they will, too.
Attorney General Marty Jackley said he's had conversations with lawmakers about its constitutionality. Last week, Jackley and Gov. Mike Rounds and officials from eight other states filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Arizona's law against the federal lawsuit.
His support for a similar law in South Dakota hinges on it meeting certain requirements, Jackley said. It can't, for example, deviate from federal law about what constitutes the legal status of an alien, which the federal government has the authority to define, Jackley said. And it would need to enforce the law without racial profiling.
Problem called minimal in S.D.
Jackley, a former U.S. attorney in South Dakota whose office prosecuted immigration cases, said illegal immigration in South Dakota is "pretty minimal compared to what Texas and Arizona are dealing with." And he said he thinks local law enforcement agencies already have a good working relationship with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"How we do it in South Dakota is working pretty well," he said.
That's true in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said. Federal agents routinely check the jail's log for people suspected of being in the country illegally. The department recently started participating in a program that compares fingerprints with a federal database of known criminal aliens.
But that system has limitations. It identifies only immigrants who have been in contact with federal authorities before - those, for example, who were deported before - which excludes many of the 12 million people who are estimated to be in the country illegally. Nor is it available to the vast majority of police agencies in the state. South Dakota does not have a central database that compiles the names of people being held in county jails.
Huron worries issue is alive there
One South Dakota city where there is thought to be a larger number of illegal immigrants is Huron.
"I would suspect we have a lot of people who are not legal citizens or have legal status," Police Chief Doug Schmitt said. In years past, when Huron police picked up a person and found they were in the country illegally, federal agents would take them for deportation. But now, that usually happens only if a person commits a serious crime.
"At the present time, the federal government will not pick up and detain someone simply because they're here illegally," he said.
Abdallah, the former head of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, recalls similar experiences. Patrol officers on several occasions pulled over vehicles that carried illegal immigrants.
"They would inform us to turn them loose," Abdallah said of federal officials. "They didn't have the time."
Police resources might be strained
Under the Arizona law, local law officers would have authority to inquire about a person's legal status if they stop that person for another offense, such as a traffic violation. But there are questions about what local officials would do with a person once they're in custody for an immigration violation. ICE officials say they don't have the resources to find and deport all the people who are in the country illegally. They concentrate their efforts on illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
Laws such as Arizona's could force the federal government to reform the immigration system, supporters say. Steele said the U.S. needs to make it easier to get here.
"We need more people," he said. "We have good jobs. We need to have a whole lot better system for letting people in."
Opponents say laws based on Arizona's model encourage racial profiling. Of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, almost 8.5 million are thought to be from Mexico or Central America, according to a 2009 study by the Pew Hispanic Center. The same survey said South Dakota is among the states with the fewest illegal immigrants.
Racial profiling tender topic in S.D.
Erin McCarrick, executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, said racial profiling "is an issue that many South Dakotans know very well."
She said the Arizona immigration legislation "is counterproductive in several ways. It places an unnecessary wedge between communities and the police who are supposed to keep them safe. And it undermines Americans' basic notion of fairness."
Juan Bonilla, president of the Spanish Speaking Association of Sioux Falls, noted that two Puerto Ricans were deported from Arizona to Mexico because of their skin color. While he supports securing the border and immigration reform, he suspects the Arizona law is being pushed for political reasons.
"How many police officers will be needed to enforce the law?" Bonilla asked. "If we're talking about 12 million people, do we have that much space in our jails?"
Sen. Al Novstrup, R-Aberdeen, said a law such as Arizona's could be appropriate for South Dakota. Illegal immigration can hurt local and state governments and undermine the rule of law, he said.
"How many people can we bring in before we sink the boat? There's a limit," he said.
Bonilla said he's confident South Dakota will not adopt an Arizona-style law.
"The Arizona law is against any person that doesn't look like a Caucasian," he said. "I don't think that would pass here."
Reach Jonathan Ellis at 575-3629.
Jonathan Ellis, Argus Leader, July 18, 2010
