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As the United States' federal government wrestles with the immigration issue, states are implementing their own plans. Here's a state-by-state look:
Alabama
- Training 70 state troopers with the power to arrest illegal immigrants.
Arizona
- Required U.S. citizenship or legal immigrant status to receive health benefits. Illegal immigrants can receive emergency care only.
- Sent troops to assist with vehicle inspections along Arizona's border with Mexico.
- Approved ballot initiatives to be decided by voters in November:
- Making English the official language of Arizona.
- Prohibiting undocumented immigrants from receiving state services such as adult education, child care and in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities.
- Prohibiting undocumented immigrants from receiving punitive damages in civil lawsuits.
- Requiring judges to deny bail to undocumented immigrants arrested for serious offenses.
Arkansas
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
California
- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature agreed on a $131 billion state budget after dropping proposals to provide health care to children of undocumented immigrants.
- Sent National Guard troops to the Mexico border.
Colorado
- Continued a special legislative session Sunday on illegal immigration.
- Made smuggling people into the USA a felony.
- Barred state agencies from awarding contracts to businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
- Required businesses seeking state contracts to verify immigration status of workers.
- Created a $50,000 civil fine for counterfeiting identification documents.
Connecticut
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Delaware
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Florida
- Required proof of legal immigrant status for driver's license applicants.
Georgia
- Required, in a phased-in program that will begin July 1, 2007, that contractors doing business with state or local governments verify citizenship status of new workers.
- Required adult applicants for public benefits to verify eligibility.
- Required all Georgia employers to verify the legal status of employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2008, in order to claim a state income tax deduction on such employees' salaries.
- Required jails to determine the legal status of prisoners charged with a felony or driving under the influence.
Idaho
- Limited unemployment benefits to citizens and legal immigrants.
Illinois
- Required that people be citizens or legal immigrants to receive state health plan coverage.
Kansas
- Limited unemployment benefits to citizens and legal immigrants.
Kentucky
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Louisiana
- Authorized the state to investigate contractors suspected of hiring illegal immigrants. The state can order such workers fired and fine businesses that don't comply.
Maine
- Tightened requirements for issuing driver's licenses to non-citizens.
Maryland
- Required the governor to fund health care services for certain legal immigrant children and pregnant women.
Massachusetts
- Gov. Mitt Romney said he would seek federal authority to empower state police to detain illegal immigrants encountered during normal law enforcement activity.
Minnesota
- Will send up to 200 National Guard troops to Mexico border.
Missouri
- Denied unemployment benefits to workers who aren't citizens.
Montana
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Nebraska
- In an effort to assist illegal immigrants, made unauthorized immigrant students eligible for in-state tuition at public universities.
New Hampshire
- Required proof of citizenship to register to vote.
New Jersey
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
New Mexico
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
New York
- A state appeals court ruled that the state Department of Motor Vehicles can require immigrants to prove they are in the USA legally before obtaining driver's licenses.
- Will send 150 National Guard troops to the Mexico border.
North Carolina
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Oklahoma
- Denied unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants.
Pennsylvania
- Prohibited use of illegal immigrants on state projects.
Rhode Island
- Effective Jan. 1, children who are not U.S. citizens will not be added to the state's health care program for the poor, even if they are in the USA legally. Children who enroll by Dec. 31 will keep their benefits.
South Dakota
- Required passport or another government-issued identification card when voting.
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Tennessee
- Barred state contracts for a year from businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Texas
- Prohibited businesses from deducting the costs of salaries and benefits for undocumented workers from their taxable revenue.
- Spent $20 million to expand Operation Rio Grande, a border security initiative.
- Will spend $5 million to put hundreds of surveillance cameras along the border at hot spots for criminal activity and routes frequently used to enter the USA.
Virginia
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Wisconsin
- Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Wyoming
- Barred non-citizens from certain state-funded scholarships.
