http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index ... s_id=40472

Immigrants lobby for bills
By Bill Harless, bharless@nashvillecitypaper.com
April 06, 2005

Amid a hubbub of chatter and the music of three mariachi guitar players, a crowd of immigrants and refugees from Mexico, Sudan, Laos and elsewhere gathered recently to talk with lawmakers about the immigration bills now in the General Assembly.

Among the legislators from Middle Tennessee attending were representatives Rob Briley, Mike Turner and Janis Sontany and Sen. Douglas Henry, each sponsoring bills this session favored by the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), which sponsored the event.

TIRRC has singled out three immigration bills it wants the legislature to pass this session and four it opposes.

Rep. Briley (D-Nashville) is sponsoring two of the TIRRC-favored immigration bills. Both deal with driving programs.

One, co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville), would extend the minimum duration of the immigrant driving certificates created last year for legal and illegal immigrants from one to three years.

The other, co-sponsored by Sen. Henry (D-Nashville), would permit immigrants with work authorization to obtain actual driver licenses.

Immigrants say they cannot cash their paychecks without a license. Luis Posada, who does construction work in the Nashville area, said he deposits his paychecks and then uses his ATM card to access the money. But if he deposits a check on a Friday, it can take days to get cash, he said.

The third bill TIRRC supports, sponsored by three senators including Sen. Henry and representatives Briley, Sontany (D-Nashville) and Turner (D-Old Hickory) would increase funding for English language learner (ELL) programs to reduce class sizes and hire more translators.

Stephen Fotopulos of TIRRC said that currently there may be 50 students assigned per ELL teacher and 500 per translator. The bill would reduce these to 20 and 200.

Attacked were three bills sponsored, on the Senate side, by Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and one by Doug Jackson (D-Dickson).

Jackson’s bill would deny all public benefits, except those mandated by the federal government, to all illegal immigrants older than 18, including driving certificates.

Two of Ketron’s bills deal with driving programs â€â€