Thread: Beaufort - Illegal immigration worker plan to move forward

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_ne ... 5119c.html

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Illegal immigration worker plan to move forward
County Council to hold second reading Monday
Published Thu, Nov 9, 2006

By JEREMY HSIEH
The Beaufort Gazette
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A Beaufort County Council committee Wednesday pushed ahead with a proposed ordinance to curb illegal immigration despite what the county attorney described as a "distinct possibility" of a legal challenge.
After three hours of public comment, discussion and at times heated debate, the Community Services and Public Safety Committee voted 5-1 to bring the ordinance, now called the Lawful Employment Ordinance, before the full County Council on Monday for a public hearing and the second of three required readings.

Unsolicited applause during debate from an uncharacteristically large and diverse audience Wednesday drew the developing battle lines between the two sides of the proposal.

On one side are committee Chairman Bill McBride, Councilwoman Starletta Hairston, who proposed the ordinance, and residents fed up with illegal immigration's presumed drain on public services and the economy. They think the measure should move forward without delay.

On the other side are council Chairman Weston Newton, Councilman Herbert Glaze, Councilman Mark Generales, Hispanic residents and businesses that rely on immigrant workers.

At the meeting, they expressed a desire to slow the process and study its potential impact, then craft a stronger ordinance.

Many Hispanic community members have matter-of-factly said that the ordinance would drive away illegal workers but impair the county's economy by depressing the labor market.

County Attorney Kelly Golden, Newton and Generales said an economic impact study would be extremely difficult if not impossible to conduct because of problems identifying illegal immigrants.

"We will need verifiable, factual information to substantiate our statement of purpose if we are challenged," Golden said.

McBride, Hairston, Generales, Glaze and Margaret Griffin voted to send the measure to the full council. Newton voted against the move because he considered the proposal a work in process.

Newton also offered a motion to authorize up to $10,000 for an independent legal analysis of the proposed ordinance's viability, which the committee unanimously approved.

"I don't want to get a lawyer who's already picked sides," he said. "Why not wait? I just don't understand the rush."

Several council members, including McBride and Hairston, said they want the ordinance to pass through final approval before the majority freshman council takes over in January.

Golden, who wrote the ordinance based on a similar one adopted by the city of Hazleton, Pa., updated the committee on that city's ongoing litigation. Hazleton was sued and a judge blocked the ordinance pending a trial to resolve its legality. There are enough similarities between the two ordinances, Golden said, to expect legal challenges in Beaufort County.

The ordinance would add a new section to the county's business licensing code, making the county's business license office a clearinghouse for complaints about illegally employed immigrant workers. The county would then verify the workers' legal status with the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service. If workers lack proper documentation, the county, under the proposal, would suspend the business' licenses until the illegal workers were fired.

The license would be suspended until the county received written verification that the situation has been corrected. Repeat offenders would be subject to automatic 20-day license suspensions.

The ordinance also encourages employers to enroll in the free federal Basic Pilot Program, which verifies Social Security numbers and checks an employee's status with the Department of Homeland Security. Businesses enrolled in the Basic Pilot Program would be immune from penalties if a violation arises with an individual who had already passed the program's scrutiny. Businesses must enroll in the program to be eligible for county grants and contracts of more than $10,000.

The council has three council meetings left before the primarily freshman council takes over, though Newton said he would consider scheduling special council meetings before the year's end to complete work on the proposed ordinance.

Contact Jeremy Hsieh at 986-5548 or jhsieh@beaufortgazette.com. To comment: beaufortgazette.com.

Look at the chickens run!

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_ne ... 6563c.html

Officials: Tools on hand to curb illegal workers
County administrator says existing code could be used to pressure non-compliant employers
Published Fri, Nov 10, 2006

By JEREMY HSIEH
The Beaufort Gazette
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At least two county officials think the county's existing business licensing code could be used to eliminate the competitive advantage unscrupulous businesses gain by paying illegal workers under the table and ignoring labor laws.

Business owners -- including one who said he suspects he employs illegal immigrants -- have called for immigration reform to level the playing field.

"I put work ads in the paper and I get zero responses from non-Latinos. I have to use, I guess, illegal workers, though they all pay taxes" and receive workers compensation insurance, a man in the construction business said Wednesday during a Beaufort County Council committee meeting where a proposed Lawful Employment Ordinance was discussed. He suggested requiring all employers to use a payroll system.

The proposed ordinance would make the county's business licensing office responsible for fielding complaints about illegal immigrant workers, investigating and then suspending licenses of non-compliant businesses.

The ordinance is slated for its second of three required readings by the County Council on Monday and could take effect as early as Jan. 1.

County Administrator Gary Kubic said existing codes already require the office to field complaints about improper business practices and suspend business licenses.

In his three years with the county, Kubic said, the business licensing office has not received a single complaint about improper business practices. Kubic said it would be impossible to anticipate the enforcement demands -- and cost to do so -- of the proposed measure. The office is staffed by four people, and the county has four codes enforcement officers.

For a business, the shortest route to comply with the proposed ordinance would be to voluntarily enroll in the free federal Basic Pilot Program, which checks personal information against federal databases and names with the Department of Homeland Security. The business would have to fire workers the federal government verified as illegal to maintain its license.

After delivering a speech plumbing American history for examples of natives and immigrants imposing their will on each other, from white colonists exploiting Native Americans to Protestant Americans' oppression of Irish Catholic potato famine refugees, Councilman Dick Stewart boiled the intent of the measure down to two goals: Level out the business playing field and a thinly veiled attempt to force Hispanics from the county.

"If our objective is to remove a group of people from this society because they don't fit in, that's a different matter," Stewart said. "We don't want Beaufort County to become a poster child for a new kind of racism."

Councilwoman Starletta Hairston, who proposed the ordinance, disagreed with that analysis. "As a 54-year-old black woman, I've been through it all ... That's not this," she said, saying the matter was purely one of legality versus illegality.

Leveling the economic playing field at least, Stewart said, could be resolved with less risk and less hassle than implementing an ordinance similar to one currently being challenged in Hazleton, Pa. Stewart suggested giving businesses safe haven from penalties under the proposed ordinance if they collect employer withholding taxes and fulfill benefits requirements.

"It would eliminate the economic disparity immediately," he said.

Hairston's position did not waver.

"It doesn't require anything a business isn't supposed to do anyway," she said.

Contact Jeremy Hsieh at 986-5548 or jhsieh@beaufortgazette.com. To comment: