Immigration Enforcement Expanding by States

WASHINGTON, DEC. 15, 2006 — -- Massachusetts has become the latest battleground in the war against illegal immigration --- a war that has political implications. Gov. Mitt Romney entered into an agreement this week that will give his state police the power to detain and arrest illegal immigrants.

The new agreement with the Department of Homeland Security gives a special squad of state troopers the power to arrest illegal immigrants without a warrant. And it puts Romney, considered a presidential hopeful, firmly in the camp of those politicians who want to be seen as "tough on immigration."

"The scope of our nation's illegal immigration problem requires us to pursue and implement new solutions wherever possible," Romney said. Thirty state troopers will be assigned to the special squad, which will have access to many federal immigration records and databases.

Romney is not the first governor to move against illegal immigrants this way. Five other states have entered into the same federal program: Florida, Alabama, California, North Carolina and Arizona. However, he is the first likely presidential candidate to enter into this program, thrusting the issue of illegal immigration further into the forefront of the 2008 campaign.

Romney has been setting the stage for his stance against illegal immigration for quite some time. He supported building a fence on the Mexican border, as well as sending the National Guard to protect the border. He scoffed at granting amnesty to the some 11 million illegal immigrants already here as outlined in the McCain-Kennedy bill.

He also vetoed a bill in June 2004 that would have let the children of illegal immigrants pay the same lower tuition at state schools as Massachusetts residents.

Though Romney's tough stance on immigration might very well help him win a presidential nomination in the Republican Party, what stance will prove politic for Democrat hopefuls is less clear. Iowa governor and '08 candidate Tom Vilsack, for one, seems caught between two different approaches.