Sweet, short victory: organizers defeat eight anti-immigrant laws but ready themselves for the next round.(GULF COAST UPDATE)

IT WAS A SWELTERING MORNING in the Louisiana a capital this past June when the state legislature convened to hear testimony for HB 887, a bill that would have denied undocumented immigrants the right to sue for medical malpractice. Sen. Julie Quinn asked the bill's author, Rep. John LaBruzzo, "Do you consider illegal aliens individuals?"

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"Under the law, as far as rights," Rep. LaBruzzo stammered. "I would say no. No. Not under, this, these, this bill."

After lengthy arguments, Rep. LaBruzzo realized he wouldn't get the votes necessary to pass the bill and voluntarily deferred HB 887 until the next legislative session. But HB 887 was just one of eight anti-immigrant bills that had been introduced in the Louisiana House early in 2008.

In fact, a delegation of community activists opposing HB 887 had already sat in on another judiciary subcommittee meeting to fight HB 25, HB 1357 and HB 1358, three other bills modeled after the dozens of virulent anti-immigrant bills that have cropped up in local city councils and state legislatures in recent years. HB 1357 and HB 1358 sought to prohibit the harboring and transportation of undocumented immigrants, and HB 25 would have required police to verify a person's legal status upon arrest.

The three bills were all defeated when the author, Rep. Brett Geymann, couldn't give solid answers to the question of how Louisiana cops would apprehend undocumented immigrants without resorting to racial profiling.

Another bill, HB 1380. would have allowed undocumented immigrants the right to work in Louisiana only if they carried a government-issued biometrics card. The bill, which would have cost the state $45 million over five years, died as a study resolution.