Thread: CA. City prepares plan to check immigration status of new hi

Published: Oct. 20, 2010
Updated: 1:13 p.m.

City prepares plan to check immigration status of new hires

By JON CASSIDY and CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTERNext Article »0

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COSTA MESA – Businesses in this city may be required to verify the immigration status of employees as a condition of their business permits, if the city takes action on an idea brought up Tuesday night at a City Council meeting.

The city approved funding Tuesday for research into the legality of the requirement, at Mayor Allan Mansoor's request.

Without committing to support an eventual proposal, Councilwoman Katrina Foley said that she'd support the research, because "it's important to understand what we're getting ourselves into."

Council candidate Chris McEvoy questioned whether such a requirement could be enforced, or whether it would be "just another hoop that businesses are going to have to jump through."

"We're getting this reputation in the city, and it's hurting us," McEvoy said. "Let's not make that the only flag we fly."

City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow was asked to research the legality of requiring city businesses to use E-Verify, a free online federal system that allows employers to check the validity of a new hire's Social Security number to determine whether he or she is authorized to work in the United States.

At a meeting in September, the council discussed three aspects of an eventual plan, using E-Verify in hiring city staff, requiring city contractors and vendors to use it, and requiring all businesses in the city to use it.

Several Orange County cities, such as Mission Viejo and Yorba Linda, have made E-Verify mandatory in city hiring and for those employers looking to contract with the city, but City Manager Allan Roeder said in September that only two local jurisdictions nationwide are known to have made it a requirement for all businesses: Lancaster, Calif. and Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Beaufort County randomly audits businesses to enforce the measure.

In September, Roeder said there would need to be "substantial" legal review before imposing the requirement on businesses.

"Irrespective of what Lancaster and others do, business licensing has never been regulatory in nature," Roeder said. "This changes the very foundation of the business license program."

If the council decides to require businesses to use E-Verify, it would then need to decide whether to actively enforce the law, which would require hiring new staff, or whether to just respond to complaints, Roeder said.

He gave the example of the city's drug-free workplace law, which applies to city businesses but is not actively enforced.

"This just seems more symbolic than anything else," Councilwoman Katrina Foley said then. "Somebody just checks a box on an application."

E-Verify started in 1996 as a pilot program in seven states. It was expanded to all 50 states in 2004.

A little more than 1 percent of Orange County's roughly 95,000 employers had signed up for E-Verify as of Jan. 26 of this year, when comparing employment and Department of Homeland Security data.

Currently, the computer program is only mandatory for businesses contracting with the federal government. The program is completely voluntary for other employers, though they're encouraged to use it.

In O.C., several cities -- such as Orange, Brea and Buena Park – have enrolled with E-Verify.

Contact the writer: jcassidy@ocregister.com or 714-796-7922

http://www.ocregister.com/news/city-272 ... erify.html

"We're getting this reputation in the city, and it's hurting us," McEvoy said. "Let's not make that the only flag we fly."

Interesting metaphor...the only "flag" you should be concerned with is the American flag and American citizens who should be protected from illegal invaders stealing jobs from Americans!