Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Rep. Veronica Gonzales

A coalition of political, business and civil rights leaders vowed Thursday to play a significant role in shifting the immigration debate away from the Texas Capitol to the federal government.

The coalition, including the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Texas Association of Business, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations, urged Congress to pass immigration changes combining enhanced border security with more avenues for immigrants to enter the United States legally and earn citizenship.

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, said the group was troubled by what it called an onslaught of bills targeting illegal immigration filed in the state Legislature.

"We do not want to see our state passing patchwork legislation that may run afoul or inconsistent with federal law or the U.S. Constitution," Gonzales said at a Capitol news conference.

She and other speakers warned that punitive immigration measures could plunge the Legislature into a divisive and unproductive session.

Some immigration bills intend "to criminalize hardworking immigrants and will devastate our economy," Gonzales said.

Earlier, the chairman of the House State Affairs committee, which is handling immigration bills, said he met Thursday with Attorney General Greg Abbott's staff and asked for a review of bills before his panel. Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, said he wants to know whether the immigration bills are constitutional before his panel hears them.

"I am treating all of (the bills) exactly the same," Swinford said when asked if legislators have expressed concerns about any bills in particular.

Citing federal inaction on how to confront illegal immigration, state lawmakers have filed about two dozen bills targeting the estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants who live in Texas.

Some measures would deny state services to the U.S. citizen children of illegal immigrants, place a tax on money transfers to Mexico and Latin America, repeal a state law allowing certain illegal immigrants to pay lower tuition at state universities, enable local law enforcement to enforce civil immigration laws and require a lawful presence for state licenses.

Gonzales called Swinford's request for an attorney general's review "a good sign for us."

Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, said his organization believes the border cannot be secured unless "we allow enough legal immigration to meet the need of our employers."

Hammond said Texas businesses need a reliable system to determine the legal status of job applicants. Employers support giving immigrants an opportunity to obtain legal status as well as citizenship, he said.

Opponents of efforts to liberalize immigration laws often refer to such proposals as "amnesty" because in their view they forgive immigrants for being in the country illegally.

Hammond said it's not amnesty if immigrants must maneuver "a whole series of hoops" contained in last year's U.S. Senate legislation, such as paying back taxes and fines, learning English and establishing U.S. residence.

Gonzales said the coalition would review immigration bills filed in the House and attend committee hearings on individual proposals.

She said the coalition is pleased that Gov. Rick Perry has requested $100 million for border security but wants to see how that money is spent.