Thread: Forsyth Co, NC: Getting tough on illegal immigrants

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Tough on Illegal Immigrants

Last Edited: Monday, 23 Oct 2006, 6:59 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 23 Oct 2006, 6:58 PM EDT

FOX8 Photojournalist Kenny Cravens
Forsyth County -- Forsyth County Commissioners are trying to finalize a policy towards Illegal immigrants. Specifically, county leaders want to pass a law requiring all county employees or workers doing any business with the county must have legal status.

Illegals, according to Forsyth District Attorney Tom Keith, “are the new face of organized crime in America.”

Keith says in just six months, the number of validated gang members in Forsyth County has more than doubled. Winston-Salem police officers have confirmed that 11 of the 16 known gangs are Hispanic.

In April, Keith testified before Congress that one-third of all people serving jail time for drugs in North Carolina are Hispanic.

Some county commissioners want to explore the option of letting sheriff's deputies take part in a federal program that trains local officers to arrest and detain illegal immigrants.

Keith says that alone won’t solve what he calls a huge problem.

“There is no simple solution,” said Keith.

County commissioners say the employment proposal is more of a formality. The county already follows federal guidelines and only hires those with legal status.

We need to set up a FOCUS campaign on this, but we will not be able to tackle it full scale till after Nov. 7

W

Gov Take-It-Easely won't like this at all. His assistant would tell me
the DA has no way of knowing the exponential spike in hispanic
drug offenses in 5 years is due to illegal immigration, at at least
that's been the response in the past. The implication here is that
you are racist to even think it.

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satel ... 7645509099




Forsyth officials OK resolution on workers
Hiring statement not likely to change county's current practices, which meet federal rules
By James Romoser
JOURNAL REPORTER
Tuesday, October 24, 2006


Forsyth County says it has never hired an illegal immigrant into a county job, and last night, it formally declared that it doesn't intend to start.

The county commissioners voted 7-0 in favor of a resolution stating that the county, in compliance with federal laws, will require all prospective county workers to prove that they are authorized to work in the United States.

The one-page resolution is the first formal action the board has taken on the issue of illegal immigration. But it won't have much practical effect.

It won't put in place stricter documentation requirements for prospective employees, and it won't require more extensive background checks. The county's hiring practices are likely to stay exactly the same because, officials say, the county already meets federal hiring mandates.

Under federal law, employers must check the legal status of new workers by requiring certain documents, such as a U.S. passport or the combination of a Social Security card with a driver's license.

Forsyth County does this for all new employees, said Carol Gearhart, the county's human-resources director. The county also conducts background checks on prospective employees.

Still, the commissioners called the resolution an important one because, while the federal government has most of the authority to enforce immigration laws, the county wants people to know that it is committed to complying with those laws.

"I think there's a misconception out there that we might not be in compliance, and this is to assure the public that we are," Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt, the board's chairwoman, said last week.

Commissioners indicated that they may consider more substantive measures on illegal immigration in the future.

Vice Chairwoman Debra Conrad-Shrader, a Republican, and Commissioner Beaufort Bailey, a Democrat, have been the strongest advocates for the resolution.

Commissioner Walter Marshall, the only other Democrat on the board, had raised many questions about it. For instance, he said he believed that the resolution was provoked by a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who has called on the county to do something about illegal immigration. Conrad-Shrader and Bailey said that was not the case.

Despite the concerns he had raised, Marshall voted for the resolution last night and said after the meeting that his questions had been answered. The final version of the resolution included a clause saying that the resolution "is not motivated by any racial issues or stereotypes, or directed at Hispanics or any other race or group of people."

"I'm satisfied that it pretty much gave our position that we are complying with federal law," Marshall said.

The resolution also directs the county manager, Dudley Watts, to organize training for county staff on federal immigration laws.

Mark Atkinson, an immigration attorney in Winston-Salem, said that when the commissioners began talking about the resolution several weeks ago, he got phone calls from clients who were concerned about what it would mean.

Atkinson said that the failure of the U.S. Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration law has compelled local governments to try various local measures, creating confusion in the immigrant community.

"Obviously, we're in this limbo situation where the federal government is not fixing this whole problem of immigration," he said. "The issue has kind of been pushed aside and is rearing itself up in local government."

It's estimated that nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants live in North Carolina.

• James Romoser can be reached at 727-7284 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com.

This story can be found at: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satel ... 9191313067

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