Thread: New Missouri law targets illegal immigrants

New Missouri law targets illegal immigrants



By Chris Blank
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
01/01/2009


JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri businesses are about to get a shove toward a federal database for screening newly hired employees for illegal immigrants. And cities will risk getting punished if they become havens for illegal immigrants.

Some new laws taking effect today are part of a broad effort by Missouri lawmakers to crack down on illegal immigrants and those who employ them.

Starting in 2009, public employers — including state and local governments — must use the E-Verify database that searches records from the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security to determine whether someone can work.

Private businesses won't have to use the database unless they have a government contract worth more than $5,000, receive state loans or tax breaks, or have been caught hiring an illegal immigrant.

But even those that don't have to use E-Verify will have a big incentive to start. Employers caught "knowingly" hiring an illegal immigrant risk losing business licenses, unless they had used E-Verify to screen their new hires.

Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who helped draft the law, said lawmakers showed foresight in going after illegal immigrants at cusp of the recession.

Federal statistics released in December show the state's unemployment rate hit 6.7 percent in November.

"It's going to have a very significant impact in protecting jobs for U.S. citizens and jobs for legal aliens during this time of high unemployment," said Kobach, who also was a top immigration adviser to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. "The state Legislature's timing was perfect."

But employers aren't so enamored.

The immigration provisions were a sticking point between a Legislature ready to levy big punishments and a business community worried about the fallout. Trent Summers, with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said some businesses are still worried what the law is going to require.

"I don't think it's overly burdensome, but we would like to see the employer requirement be as little as possible," said Summers, the chamber's director of environmental and regulatory affairs. "We don't think employers should be in the position of acting as immigration agents."

The Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center estimates from census data that 35,000 to 65,000 illegal immigrants live in Missouri. Missouri is projected to have less than 1 percent of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants.

About a dozen states require that some employers use E-Verify, with Arizona and Mississippi going the furthest in mandating it for all.

The federal database was created in 1996 as an electronic way for determining whether employees can work in the U.S. But misspelled names, last names entered as middle names and outdated information have led to mistakes.

Advocates for immigrants also contend employer misuse of the database has made legal immigrants unwilling to work in states pushing for the use of E-Verify, hurting those economies. Businesses aren't supposed to use the database to screen job applicants or check their existing work forces.

Jennifer Rafanan, the executive director for Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, said that companies have misapplied E-Verify to discriminate and to racially profile.

"Programs like this can be misused, and the privacy issues are sort of massive in terms of which employers use the system and how they use it," Rafanan said.

According to the federal Government Accountability Office, about 92 percent of all E-Verify checks are confirmed within seconds. About 7 percent cannot be immediately confirmed by the Social Security databases, and about 1 percent can't be confirmed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency.

Besides E-Verify requirements, the immigration law also blocks state grants from going to any Missouri city that adopts "sanctuary" policies and refuses to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A "sanctuary policy" is an order or ordinance that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities, bars immigration status verification or declares illegal immigrants can live within the city.

To enforce the ban, a lawmaker can ask the attorney general's office to determine whether a town is a sanctuary city before money is awarded or after a Missouri resident complains.

It's unclear if any municipalities would be affected, but lawmakers have speculated it could entangle Kansas City. Kobach said some suspect the Kansas City Police Department could have informal sanctuary policies and that he "wouldn't be surprised" if a complaint is filed against the municipality.

But Rafanan, who said Missouri has no sanctuary cities, said the Kansas City Police Department's policies already have been examined by critics.

Incoming Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who sponsored similar immigration legislation while in the Senate, said he was not aware of anyone planning to accuse a Missouri city of using sanctuary policies.

When asked if he thinks Kansas City is a sanctuary city, Koster said his opinion wouldn't affect the office's legal decision.

"It is an objective question that would have to be answered through a more researched inquiry," Koster said. "It's not a subjective standard."


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Advocates for immigrants also contend employer misuse of the database has made legal immigrants unwilling to work in states pushing for the use of E-Verify, hurting those economies. Businesses aren't supposed to use the database to screen job applicants or check their existing work forces.

Then why the crap are we wasting precious taxpayer dollars paying for this database if no one is supposed to use it? Any employer worried about their business and the legality and competency of those they hire to perform tasks for that business would use E-Verify, just like they back check the resume: you graduated from MIT top of the class in nano-engineering? Need to check that one. You are here legally, don't speak English after 10 years and your last job was digging ditches as a day laborer. As a business owner, it would be my responsibility to verify all claims.

Special thanks to all the ALIPACers that helped get these laws through! You folks are truly amazing when you all deploy together on an effort like the one we launched in this state.

I hope each of you that participated is proud of this accomplishment.

We can still take America back. One state at a time!

W

Ditto W, one state at a time! and every state will send a powerful message to the U.S. Congress!