All 50 state legislatures have considered legislation this year that would affect immigration and/or immigrants. According to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), at least 1400 pieces of legislation relating to immigration and immigrants have been introduced among the 50 state legislatures. By early July, 170 bills had become law in 41 states.

This activity at the state level grows out of Congress's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The state legislatures have considered legislation that covers almost all of the states' policy areas: education, employment, health, human trafficking, identification and drivers' licenses, law enforcement, legal services, public benefits, and voting. Some of the proposed laws have been pro-immigrant; some have been anti-immigrant.

Interestingly, some states look at the same problem and come up with opposite solutions. For example, according to the Associated Press, "Arizona lawmakers passed a bill requiring employers to use a new federal database to avoid hiring illegal immigrants, lawmakers in Illinois passed a bill barring businesses from using the same database, saying it contained too many errors."