CHEYENNE -- Some Wyoming legislators are pushing a bill that would make it a felony to harbor or transport illegal immigrants in the state. The bill also would deny some public benefits to illegal immigrants.

Supporters of the bill say their intention is to make Wyoming employers careful not to hire illegal immigrants, and they emphasize the bill is not intended to target Hispanics. The Legislature rejected a similar bill last year.

Opponents of such legislation argue that controlling immigration is the responsibility of the federal government. They say that similar legislation around the country unfairly targets Hispanic citizens because of the large number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, is the main supporter of the Wyoming bill, House Bill 103.

"I want people to be aware that they've got to be careful in whom they hire, and they can't just go hire illegals," Illoway said. "I've got people, and you know them well, who will say, 'You're targeting Hispanics.' I am not targeting anybody; I am targeting illegal immigration."

Illoway said illegal immigrants shouldn't receive state unemployment benefits, workers compensation payments or other benefits.

"We should be trying to hire our own first," Illoway said. "The immigrants should go through the legal channels."

Linda Burt, executive director of the ACLU in Wyoming, said she sees problems with the Wyoming bill and others around the country.

"These kinds of bills are unnecessary because these kinds of laws are federal issues; they're not state issues," Burt said. "States cannot solve the immigration problems on a state-by-state basis. Reform must come on a national level. These kinds of bills, unfortunately, are very divisive bills."

The ACLU and other groups have challenged similar laws in other states on constitutional grounds. The ACLU has argued in court that a city ordinance in Pennsylvania that sought to punish landlords and employers who rent to or employ illegal immigrants was unconstitutional.

"From a moral aspect, the thing that seems so basically wrong to me is that these laws are so mean-spirited, and that really concerns me," Burt said. She also noted that many Wyoming businesses that employ immigrants could be hurt by such a bill.

A tough law against illegal immigrants went into effect in Oklahoma early last year. As the Wyoming proposal would do, the Oklahoma law makes it a crime to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant and specifies that they can't receive certain government services.

Some business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Tulsa Metro and Oklahoma State chambers of commerce, have challenged the Oklahoma law in federal court. A federal judge there has agreed to bar state officials from enforcing some provisions of the law and a federal appeals court in Denver now is considering the matter.

Guillermo Rojas is editor of the Tulsa weekly newspaper La Semana del Sur and a member of the Governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic and Latino Affairs in Oklahoma. He said he believes the law in that state was motivated by anti-Hispanic sentiment.

"They can put it a different way, but 90 percent or 95 percent of the immigrants that come into Oklahoma are Hispanic," Rojas said.

The Oklahoma law has had wide-ranging effects on that state's Hispanic community, Rojas said. He said many immigrant families have members who are documented as well as undocumented. The law makes it a crime for family members to transport or house each other, he said.

Rojas said the law also puts churches that cater to immigrants in a difficult position. He said clergy who serve immigrants refuse to accept any government prohibition on helping their congregations, even if that means transporting an illegal immigrant to church or otherwise helping them.

Meanwhile, Rojas said business groups are opposing the law because it's hurting businesses in Oklahoma.

"I live in Tulsa, and it's impacting the economy of the city of Tulsa because most of the people who paid the traffic infractions, and all the other types of things, they were Hispanics," Rojas said. "Almost 20 percent of them left the state. There's no money from fines. There's no money from the Hispanics buying groceries, or buying at Wal-Mart, or buying lunch or dinner in a restaurant."

Rep. Owen Petersen, R-Lyman, is one of the co-sponsors of the bill with Illoway. He also said the bill isn't trying to target any particular group.

"I am certainly not against immigration, as long as it follows legal process," Petersen said. "That's what it amounts to. It's not against any nationality, or anything along those lines."

Petersen noted that some businesses in Wyoming are laying off workers in the recent economic downturn.

"The people that are working here ought to have the opportunities to obtain employment on a legal basis, because they're here legal," Petersen said. "They pay taxes, and do other things, and that's really what motivates me to be a sponsor on the bill."

Petersen said that discouraging illegal immigration into Wyoming may also help immigrants themselves.

"What you're getting is human trafficking type situations," Petersen said. "And I feel sorry for the people that are in an illegal immigration status, because they are not afforded rights and protections under the law that I have, and other people who are legal residents of the State of Wyoming."

"A lot of them are victimized, just between you and I, they're paid substandard wages, the housing conditions are frequently horrible, and they know that if they say anything, they're subject to deportation," Petersen said.