Immigration redux at the Statehouse

State Sen. Mike Delph is back this year with another bill targeting the hiring of illegal immigrants.

This time,
legislation introduced by the Carmel Republican aims to confirm citizenship of government workers and people who seek state
unemployment benefits. State and local governments would be required to verify eligibility of new workers.

A controversial
bill Delph wrote last year would have hammered businesses that hire illegal immigrants, but it eventually died.

Are
Delph and like-minded Republicans on the right track with this issue? Latinos tend to vote Democratic, but some Republican
strategists believe they’re a natural constituency because of their bootstrap work ethic and their conservative leanings
on social issues. Some observers have even warned the party that it won’t win many more national elections without
finding a way to embrace the growing demographic.

What do you think about Delph’s efforts? Republicans and
Latinos?