311 Immigration Laws Approved in the U.S., Texas with Most Approved Legislations in Favor of Undocumented Immigrants

In the first 8 months of 2013, 311 immigration laws were approved in 43 states in the United States, revealed a recent report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). However, the organization pointed out that not all of these laws have been made to "punish" undocumented immigrants in the country. 

The revelation of the new report highlighted the need to solve the issue of illegal or undocumented immigrants before 2013 is over. The report came out after a year marked by strong mobilizations in favor of immigration reform in the United States. Previously, immigration reform-related laws, like the Senate's proposal last June, were delayed by the House of Representatives because lawmakers voted for legislation that does not include a way to become citizens for the 11 million undocumented immigrants.

According to the NCSL report, quoted by Univisión, the number of resolutions concerning immigration matters has risen considerably and generated division in the U.S. According to the study, Republican states have higher tendency to support measures against undocumented immigrants, while Democrat states have enacted laws that support illegal residents.

In concrete terms, the NCSL's report indicated that approval of immigration-related laws increased by 83%, compared to the number of laws approved in the first 6 months of 2012.

The three Democrat states voting in favor of legislative measures that promote the inclusion of undocumented students in U.S. universities were Colorado, Oregon and Minnesota. On the other hand, Indiana, a state with a Republican majority, approved a legislation that forces students to prove their American citizenship to access college financial support.

Meanwhile, the report stated that Texas is the state with the highest number of migratory legislations in the year, so far. Of the 311 approved measures in 2013, 96 were in Texas and most of them, Univisión pointed out, with benefits for undocumented immigrants.

After the controversial SB 1070 Arizona law was deferred and modified, various states managed to propel actions that prevented mass deportations of undocumented residents. The Supreme Court ruled to eliminate three clauses that made it a crime to not carry papers that identified the owner as a legal resident of the U.S. The SC ruling also allowed an investigation if there was reasonable doubt of the migration status of Hispanic residents.

Barack Obama's administration also promoted the SC ruling, which stopped the deportation of 1.7 million "dreamers." Rather, these dreamers were granted permission to work in the country.