http://sbsun.com/news/ci_3808139

Migrant hiring tackled
Highland targeting its city contractors
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

HIGHLAND - A new policy that would place explicit language in city contracts forbidding the hiring of illegal immigrants could be ready for consideration as early as next month, City Manager Sam Racadio said Wednesday.
Highland already requires contractors to obey existing hiring laws, City Clerk Betty Hughes said.

"My intention is to not further encourage the people to come to the United States from any country illegally," Councilwoman Jody Scott said after she proposed the new rules at Tuesday evening's council meeting.

Scott pushed for new contract language that would emphasize City Hall's insistence that companies refrain from knowingly hiring anyone who does not have the legal right to work in the United States while doing business with Highland.

Scott's colleagues were receptive to the idea. On Wednesday, Racadio said he plans to work with City Attorney Marguerite Battersby to develop contract language that would be consistent with Scott's idea.

By June, a proposal could be ready for review by the city's public-works subcommittee. Scott, along with Councilman John Timmer, are on the committee.

City contracts are frequently reviewed by that subcommittee before being discussed by the full City Council.

Scott said Wednesday that she has strong views on illegal immigration because she has friends who have gone through the legal immigration process and believes that illegal immigrants "push someone else out of the way."

She also said this is not the first time she has proposed this kind of policy.

"It's nothing new. I've brought it before but they just ignored me. The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

Scott made her proposal as the debate over illegal immigration is growing into one of the biggest stories of 2006. On May 1, throngs of protesters across the United States participated in rallies and "The Great American Boycott" to demonstrate their opposition to congressional proposals to tighten immigration laws.

In neighboring San Bernardino, anti-illegal-immigration activist Joseph Turner is backing a proposal that would make it illegal for San Bernardino landlords to rent to illegal immigrants and prohibit San Bernardino officials from using public funds to finance day-laborer centers.

On Monday, the San Bernardino City Council is scheduled to discuss the possibilities of adopting Turner's proposal or placing it before city voters.

Concerning Scott's proposal, Highland Mayor Ross Jones said it was important to make sure any new city rules do not supersede state or federal hiring laws, but he does not worry about a negative reaction if the council moves to incorporate an anti-illegal-immigration position into city contracts.

"What would be the reaction, that they don't want us to obey the law?" Jones asked.

If the council eventually adopts Scott's proposal, any violations on the part of businesses awarded construction or service contracts would raise the question of how to enforce city policy, Racadio said. Technically, City Hall would have the power to terminate any contract with a business that willfully hires an illegal immigrant.

"If you're in the final stages of a new police station, what do you do? That's something the City Council would have to grapple with," Racadio said.

Scott said she would not want to penalize a business that employed a worker who used fraudulent documents to get a job. However, she said any business that ignores hiring laws should not expect do business with Highland.

"I would like it to have enough teeth in it so they would be banned from city contracts for five years," she said.