Anderson addressed many of the proposed changes to national immigration laws (and the failure of Congress to pass new immigration legislation in 2007) and the problems facing local communities if they too aggressively seek and assume additional legal and regulatory roles in response to addressing illegal immigration issues.
Anderson also questioned the need for local law enforcement agencies to assume broad new immigration regulatory control powers under Homeland Security Program 287(g) — a move that could reinforce existing animosity and negative ethnic stereotypes in the community and lead to responsibilities and roles for local law enforcement that are not appropriate and potentially costly to the community in the long run.