Let’s see now. In a city and county that are both stressed in paying their bills and meeting budgets, Jackson City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba wants it to be policy that the city discourage city employees, including police, from making inquiries into the citizenship status of people seeking taxpayer-funded public services.

    At least 23 American cities have adopted ordinances banning city employees and police officers from asking people about their immigration status, including: Washington, D.C.; New York City; Los Angeles; Chicago; San Francisco; Santa Ana; San Diego; Salt Lake City; Dallas; Houston; Austin; Detroit; Jersey City; Minneapolis; Miami; Denver; Baltimore; Seattle; Portland; New Haven; and Portland, Maine.

Political football

    While Lumumba’s proposal carries exemption and exceptions – such as determining the legal status of someone under arrest – it would mean officers could not stop people to ask their immigration status or ask about the status of people who report crimes.

    At the same time, Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson and Jackson Police Chief  Rebecca Coleman have said they are receiving no complaints about Hispanic immigrants being hassled about their citizenship when seeking city services – suggesting that Lumumba’s proposed solution is still seeking a problem to solve.

    Lumumba made no bones about the fact that his “solution” is a head-them-off-at-the-pass reaction to the migration of Arizona’s tough new immigration laws to other states like Mississippi – telling the media: “We should send a message of where Jackson stands.”

    On the other side of the partisan and philosophical fence, state Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, has pledged to introduce legislation in Mississippi that mirrors the Arizona law during the next legislative session.

    In case anyone missed it, Mississippi is stacking up tough political issues that threaten to dominate all others in the 2011 statewide elections: illegal immigration, unemployment, voter ID, the so-called “personhood” amendment,  and past and future budget cuts.

    Lumumba’s proposal makes little sense in a city and county with the fiscal woes that confront Jackson and Hinds County. But from the standpoint of pure politics, it indicates that he’s paying attention up the street at the State Capitol and reading the tea leaves correctly.

Red meat issue

    Illegal immigration is a red meat political issues that draws both support and derision from both mainstream political parties. While liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans alike don’t like to admit it or have anyone in the media state it, both parties have ignored enforcement of immigration laws because of the power of the Latino lobby on Capitol Hill, their own desire to win Latino votes and an ongoing addition to cheap labor. Neither party has the high ground on illegal immigration and those who claim it are rewriting history.

    But a stagnant economy and high unemployment had served as jet fuel to illegal immigration as a political issue. Both parties will try to manipulate it in 2011. Count on it.

    Contact Sid Salter at (601) 961-7084 or e-mail ssalter@clarionledger.com. Visit his blog at clarionledger.com. His talk radio show, On Deadline with Sid Salter, is broadcast on the SuperTalk Mississippi network.