The North Carolina Legislatures recently passed H.B. 318, a law that would change the face of North Carolina’s immigration policy. The bill is currently awaiting signature by the Governor, and if the Governor signs it will become law. This would be very troubling for not only the North Carolina immigrant community, but also for the other 49 states in the United States as this bill pushes the boundaries of anti-immigration laws. There are many issues with this bill, but the worst is that the bill invalidates certain forms of ID, making it much harder for immigrants to prove who they are. This has to do primarily with the police, as it states that they are no longer allowed to recognize foreign passports, photo identification cards issued by cities and local groups, or some forms of municipal IDs. This is very detrimental to the immigrant community as for many immigrants these are the only forms of identification they have. Because they would no longer have valid IDs, many immigrants would end up with heavy fines or jail time for failure to produce a valid form of identification. The reason this bill is harmful to other states stems from the possible reaction to the law. If someone challenges this law and it is found by the supreme court to be perfectly fine, other states could start to implement the same legislation. This is why it is very important to start the immigration process as soon as possible, and to obtain any form of legal identification that you can. The last thing we at Andres Mejer Law want is someone in our community facing legal troubles for something we could have helped avoid. If you have any questions regarding anything in this article, please take advantage of the resources below.
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