Thread: KS: Immigration crackdown's backers have their say

Immigration crackdown's backers have their say
BY JEANNINE KORANDA
The Wichita Eagle
Tue, Feb. 26, 2008

TOPEKA - Sandie Ghilino told lawmakers Monday that he shut down his masonry business in Shawnee because he couldn't compete with companies that hired illegal immigrants.

Competitors' low wages drove down contract prices, dropping his $10 million business to less that $2 million in three years. Finally, he said, he closed the company and told his son to find a different career.

"There was no reason to keep the family business open," he said.

Ghilino was one of several business people who spoke Monday in favor of cracking down on illegal immigrants and those who hire them.

Opponents will get the chance to make their case to lawmakers today.

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee is considering four competing bills that range from a major crackdown to slight tinkering with the current system.

The crowded committee room included members of the Kansas branch of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

Speakers were limited to three minutes of testimony, which still took almost two hours.

The big issue emerging Monday was what to do about employers who hire illegal workers.

The E-Verify database

House bills 2836 and 2680 would require employers to check all employees for legal status through a database called E-Verify.

E-Verify checks names and identification numbers with the Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

House Bill 2921 encourages employers to use the system to avoid liability for hiring illegal workers, but would not mandate it.

A group of 35 business associations has said it opposed any measure that requires employers to use the online verification system, said Terry Holdren, national director for the Kansas Farm Bureau Governmental Relations.

Holdren said the business coalition supported House Bill 2921, mainly because it did not mandate employers use the E-Verify system.

Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, said the committee should reject HB 2921, which the committee introduced, because it basically repeats what was being done already.

"We must have laws that have teeth behind them," said Kinzer, co-sponsor of HB 2836 and HB 2370, which includes some similar business provisions.

House Bill 2836 also includes sanctions for businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants and makes it illegal for illegal immigrants to receive public welfare benefits or cast a ballot, and for landlords to rent to them.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers from both chambers watched a demonstration of the system, which has about 55,000 participants.

Sonja Barnes, education branch chief for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told lawmakers the system eliminated the guess-work over whether new employees could work in the country.

"There is not a person in this room that can say they are a document expert, that is where E-Verify comes in," she said.

Currently, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma require businesses to check new employees' information in the system, she said.

Kansas Republican Party chairman Kris Kobach, a law professor who helped defend Arizona's law requiring E-Verify in the courts, told the committee that the Internet-based system was very accurate and that 98 percent of those authorized to work are instantly verified.

He also said the system could help decrease discrimination since employers fearful of hiring illegal immigrants will have a way to check a new hire's ability to work in the country.

That was important, said Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, who sponsored House Bill 2836. By verifying employment eligibility and decreasing illegal immigration, lawmakers would also help overcome some Kansans' suspicious attitudes toward immigrants who are legal.

"I believe calling illegal aliens immigrants is an injustice to the honest, legal immigrants who are true Americans," Landwehr said.

In the Senate

The Senate Federal and State Committee is starting its own process today with an overview of Senate Bill 458.

That bill includes employee verifications and makes it illegal for illegal immigrants to receive state services and benefits. It also requires law enforcement to check people's citizenship and immigration status.

Reach Jeannine Koranda at 785-296-3006 or jkoranda@wichitaeagle.com.

Recent Comments

* Remember what Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, said in May...
* E verify is for all new employees, regardless of age, race, sex. It...
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* we MUST PROTECT the American citizen, taxpayer, worker & bring...

* Five immigration bills on the slate
* House Bill 2370
* House Bill 2921
* House Bill 2680
* House Bill 2836

TOPEKA - Sandie Ghilino

http://www.kansas.com/news/legislature/ ... 22868.html

They need to e-verify all people entering these hearings , voting and anyone protesting on American soil. I’d bet the protest from IA supporter who cease.

Kansas Republican Party chairman Kris Kobach, a law professor who helped defend Arizona's law requiring E-Verify in the courts, told the committee that the Internet-based system was very accurate and that 98 percent of those authorized to work are instantly verified.

I cannot understand why a program that would instantly verify authorization to work in this country is not mandatory, unless your agenda includes giving illegal invaders the opportunity to work.