Arizona not alone in immigration battle

The State of Arizona is not the only state to have passed a bill like SB 1070 into law.  It is, however, the only state to come under intense criticism and while cries of boycott echo around the nation, research shows that all 50 states have passed laws in attempts to control the illegal population in their state.

SB 1070 is the response given by Arizona legislature after repeated attempts to gain assistance from the Federal Government to step in and enforce the immigration laws that are already in place but currently not enforced.

Here are some facts that were able to be gathered from the National Conference of State Legislatures website:

Prince William County, Virginia passed a law on July 16, 2007 that allows local law enforcement to verify a person's immigrant status when stopped for routine traffic violations.  The law also contains recommendations on which county services are to be provided to illegal residents.  

Wisconsin vetoed a bill on May 26, 2006 that would have required all applicants for state benefit programs to show proof of citizenship or legal immigration status.

As of October 31, 2006, bills had been enacted in 32 states with 84 laws being passed.  By 2008, those numbers had risen to 45 states with 175 laws being enacted in 39 of those states, and by 2009 there were a total of 222 state laws passed regarding illegal immigration. 

One bill that keeps popping up in different states, and so far has not passed yet, is the Dream Act.  This would allow illegal aliens to receive funding from loans and work study programs for education in the United States.  Since this law has not received much success on the State level, it is in the process of being brought up for approval on a Federal level. 

The common thread in all these bills that are being presented is that they all deal with law enforcement, legal services/assistance, omnibus, public benefits, trafficking, education, employment, and identification/drivers licenses.  And the common thread that keeps being overlooked is that when you are constantly depleting your savings account, and you aren't putting anything back in, eventually your savings account will be empty. 

If Arizona is so awful, and so racist  for standing up and defending itself against a wave that is ever increasing, why then have other states been just as forthcoming in their own legislature?  Why then is Arizona the only state receiving the harsh criticisms for taking a stand no one else dared to take?

Could it be, that out of the four border states, Arizona is the only one without a wall?