Thread: Gwinnett Co. GA: Vote on illegal immigrants tonight 6/26

Vote on illegal immigrants tonight

By BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/26/07

The Gwinnett County Commission is scheduled to vote tonight on a proposal to bar companies that hire illegal immigrants from obtaining county contracts.

The vote is scheduled to take place after a public hearing on the proposal.

The hearing is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... immig.html

they need to put these in place regardless of the outcome. Even as Bush and others are pushing a bad bill through the senate more illegals are crossing the border and bush is doing nothing except for putting law enforcement in jail.

Employees' immigration status must be verified, county says

By BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/26/07

Companies doing business with Gwinnett County will have to verify that their employees are legal immigrants, the Gwinnett County Commission decided tonight in a unanimous vote.


The decision also empowers county auditors and finance department staff to inspect companies and question their employees before and after county contracts are awarded.


The vote took placed in the auditorium of the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville, after a public hearing on the proposal.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... gvote.html

Law aimed at illegal workers OK'd
Contract seekers required to verify employees' status

By BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/27/07

The Gwinnett Commission on Tuesday voted to require companies seeking county contracts to verify that all of their employees are legal U.S. residents.


In a 4-0 vote with one member absent, the board also empowered county auditors to periodically inspect the records of companies hired to do county work and question their employees.


Gwinnett Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and Commissioners Lorraine Green, Mike Beaudreau and Kevin Kenerly voted for the proposal. Commissioner Bert Nasuti, who is on vacation, did not attend the meeting.


"The reason we did this is because so many of you are frustrated...We?re frustrated," said Green, who drafted the proposal.


"We want Washington to act but they seem to be dragging their feet a bit. So we can not longer avoid action."


Prior to the vote, critics warned the commissioners that, if approved, the new contracting policy would be unconstitutional and usurp the federal government's power to regulate immigration.


They also argued that requiring companies to turn over personnel document and question employees could violate federal privacy laws.


Jamie Hernan, a lawyer who represents Latino clients said the ordinance creates "an immigration department within Gwinnett County in the purchasing department being authorized to perform inspections and essentially interrogations of employees who have not given [their] authorization."


Hernan and Elise Shore, who is the regional director for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, were the only two attendees to speak against the proposal.


The other 14 who signed up to speak all supported the proposal.


They included a German refugee from Poland who arrived in the U.S. in 1960 and a longtime U.S. legal resident from London.

Others in attendance waved small placards that read "No Illegal Workers."


"We came to this country. We obeyed all the laws, we went to school to learn the English language É and we paid our taxes," said Charlotte Gutsman, an ethnic German who lives in Lawrenceville.


"They [the illegal immigrants] are being welcomed like royalty," Gutsman said.


The commissioners enacted the new policy by revising an existing ordinance that governs the process through which companies can bid for county projects.


The local government contracts with private companies to provide a wide range of county services. They include building roads and ballparks, as well as providing food and medical care for jail inmates.


Under the revised ordinance, any vendor bidding on county work will be required to verify the legal status of all workers who would be involved in the project, including those hired by subcontractors.


That verification process would be subject to a county review. The board Tuesday approved spending $256,500 to enable county auditors and purchasing division staffers to carry out the new responsibility.


If auditors find illegal immigrants on the payroll of any company hired for county work, they can order the company to fire those workers and report them to the Department of Homeland Security.


Companies that fail to comply with those orders could lose their county contracts.


The commissioners made two other changes to the county's purchasing ordinance that aren't related to immigration.


They adopted a new ethics rule banning companies bidding for county work to contact county commissioners prior to a commission vote on the matter.


And they raised the amount of money that top appointed county officials can spend, without a commission vote, on unanticipated project costs. That amount went from $25,000 to up to $100,000.


While the public hearing was mostly a civil affair, the immigration debate sparked a few moments of outrage.

When Commission Chairman Charles Bannister suggested tabling the vote to give everyone who wanted to address the commissioners to do so, one audience member yelled "Vote Now!"


When Shore said "when the law is a weapon in hatred's arsenal as opposed to a protective shield, when the law fans the flames of hatred, society itself suffers a death,"


Green and Beaudreau took the remark personally.


Beaudreau called it "insulting."


Green said: "I do take offense when quotations are made that a government, by enacting its own laws, fans the flames of hatred. I don?t think anything fans the flames of hatred more than violating the sanctity of the United States."

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... grant.html

I live in Gwinette County and this is new news to me! AWSOME!

I live in Gwinnett too and I am THRILLED !!!