With bipartisan support, the California Senate approved a resolution today urging President Barack Obama and Congress to "exhibit responsible leadership by enacting comprehensive immigration reform."
Senate Concurrent Resolution 108 by Sen. Tom Harman -- a Republican running for attorney general -- also includes language about the problems that come with individual states attempting to come up with their own laws.
Arizona recently unleashed national debate when legislators there passed an immigration law requiring local police officers to ask to see proof of legal status if they suspect someone might be undocumented.
"The federal government's failure to implement sound immigration policy or enforce existing federal law encourages frustrated states to craft their own ad hoc policy solutions for undocumented immigration, an approach that potentially raises constitutional concerns, incites socially and racially divisive rhetoric, and creates a divergent patchwork of immigration law provisions," Harman's resolution says.
Harman said his resolution doesn't offer specific ideas for a federal reform. But, he said, "we need to put the pedal to the metal" to urge Obama and Congress to act.
Harman's resolution received support on the floor from Sen. Gil Cedillo, a Los Angeles Democrat who strongly backs creating a path to legal status for some illegal immigrants.
"I applaud his effort to think about comprehensive immigration reform," Cedillo said, adding that in tough economic times people often turn to "scapegoating immigrants."
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