According to a June 28th report by the Migration Policy Institute, state governments across the United States on both sides of the political aisle are acting on immigration. At the vanguard of this activism are of course, Florida and Texas, which have enacted laws this year intended to discourage the presence of unauthorized immigrants. And we've talked about that a lot. But these new restrictions are only one side of the coin. In contrast, Minnesota, Utah, and other states, have provided variou
s rights and protections to unauthorized immigrants and recipients of quasi-legal status under the Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival programs, which offer work authorization and protection from deportation. And these state expansions include access to driver's licenses, public benefits, professional certificates. As we have discussed, two weeks before announcing his presidential campaign in May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a far reaching law restrictin
g the rights and mobility of unauthorized immigrants. And this law comes as Florida receives a disproportionate share of migrants entering through the United States-Mexico border. Now following a special legislative session called by Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, Texas has also enacted six laws in June focused on immigration and border security. Among those aspects, these laws include deputizing U.S. Border Patrol agents, who can arrest people suspected of violating state law, authorizing the g
overnor to share border security, intelligence and resources, allowing the Texas National Guard to use drones for monitoring the border, creating a training program for local law enforcement agents, designating Mexican drug cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, allocating funds to compensate farmers for property damage from border smuggling. And on Friday, July 7th, Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas is installing its "marine barrier installation" as part of its efforts to
stop illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. However, with all that bad news, recent months have also seen new laws expanding rights and benefits of unauthorized immigrants in other states. As part of a major push following Democratic takeover and of its Legislature this year, Minnesota created new college tuition support for all students in low-income families regardless of immigration status. Lawmakers also made all residents eligible for driver's licenses regardless of status. And
Rhode Island and Massachusetts enacted similar policies. Nineteen states and Washington, D.C. now offer such licenses. And on July 1st, the Minnesota Legislature passed a new law that reduces the maximum sentence for a gross misdemeanor from one year to 364 days. That one day could be a difference between an immigrant in Minnesota paying a fine and serving a short jail sentence, and getting deported as an aggravated felony. Because if you're sentenced to one year in prison or more in most theft
, fraud, or assault cases, you're getting deported as an aggravated felon. So now, Minnesota changed the maximum sentence to 364 days. So all of those convictions would be crimes of moral turpitude. Voters in Arizona last year approved a similar proposition offering in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. This year, Maryland decided to offer health care occupational licenses to qualified unauthorized immigrants. Tennessee began allowing thousands of immigrants in quasi-legal statu
s to obtain professional licenses. New Mexico passed a law this year increasing the age of which migrant children who have experienced parental abuse, abandonment or neglect can apply for a Special Immigrant Juvenile Status from the age of 18 to 21. And California is in the process of expanding state funded public health insurance for all immigrants ineligible for federal public insurance. So what we have here is a big dichotomy. Republican states, making it more difficult for immigrants, Democr
atic states, making it easier for them. And no federal government really doing anything because Congress and the President can't seem to get together to make any decisions on immigration. Thanks for
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