Thread: KS: Bill matches other states' immigration crackdowns

Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2008
Bill matches other states' immigration crackdowns
BY JEANNINE KORANDA
Eagle Topeka bureau
With neighboring states such as Oklahoma cracking down on illegal immigration, state Rep. Brenda Landwehr worries that undocumented workers will flock to Kansas.

To keep Kansas from becoming a "sanctuary state," Landwehr, R-Wichita, plans to introduce an illegal immigration reform package modeled on laws in Oklahoma, Colorado and Arizona.

At least two other proposals aimed at toughening immigration laws are expected to surface during the 2008 session, which begins Jan. 14. The proposals range from making it illegal to rent or give rides to illegal immigrants to cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers.

Opponents say that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, that the proposals are merely a smoke screen to make it appear politicians are addressing the issue and that it will hurt employers looking for workers.

Proponents of the bills say they hope the proposals spur the federal government to act on what many view as a federal issue.

They also cite the need for a measure that focuses on employers who knowingly use and possibly exploit undocumented workers.

Landwehr's measure, which is still being drafted, would include new penalties for landlords and businesses that knowingly rent to or employ illegal immigrants.

It's not that she is against immigrants coming to Kansas to work, Landwehr said.

"I want it documented and want to know who they are," she said.

Her proposal also would make it illegal for an undocumented worker to vote.

And it would deny public benefits such as welfare to undocumented workers and strengthen prosecution and law enforcement efforts.

Landwehr, who also included a component that prohibits cities from opting out of the law, hopes to introduce the package early in the session.

The need for law

At least one Senate Republican plans to offer a proposal similar to Landwehr's, although it doesn't include voting or the landlord aspects of the House bill.

Under the bill state Sen. Peggy Palmer, R-Augusta, plans to introduce, employers would be required to check new employees in the federal government's Employment Eligibility Verification system, or E-Verify, which tells employers whether someone is permitted to work in the United States.

It also would tighten driver's license security by making the license expiration day the same as the visa expiration date.

A proposal by a House Democrat is aimed at targeting businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants or try to side-step checking documents by calling workers contract labor.

"This is all about money so we're going to hit them in the pocketbook," said Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka, who will introduce the legislation.

Both Mah and Landwehr say that businesses that use the federal government's E-Verify would not be affected by their proposals.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that Kansas has between 40,000 and 70,000 undocumented workers, based on the Census Bureau's 2005 population survey.

Because of checks like E-Verify system, Cargill Inc. officials don't see legislation like Mah's or Landwehr's affecting them, said Mark Klein, spokesman for the company's meat business, which employs about 4,500 people in Kansas.

"The extensive checks we do in the hiring process and afterwards would demonstrate that we don't knowingly hire undocumented workers," he said.

There is a need for immigration reform, but his company is looking to the federal government for that, Klein said.

A federal issue

Opponents say Landwehr's proposal and the Oklahoma law repeats existing federal laws and that immigration is not something the state Legislature should be tackling.

The federal government enforces immigration laws, issues work visas, and decides who can enter the country and who can stay.

"They can try to hand it to us all they want, but at the end of the day it is a federal issue," said state Rep. Delia Garcia, D-Wichita. The Constitution says anything to do with the country's borders is a federal issue.

But Landwehr, who hopes proposals like hers will prompt the federal government to act, says states can't just wait.

"We can either sit and wait, or we can take action to address the issue in individual states," she said.

Landwehr views her proposal as "reinforcing federal law."

Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, disagrees, saying the proposal mostly "is to make it look like they are being tough on immigrants.

"But at the end of the day immigration enforcement is a federal responsibly," he said.

Illegal immigrants already cannot vote or collect public aid and it is illegal for employers to knowingly hire an undocumented worker, he pointed out.

The Rev. Rene Tario, executive director of the Wichita Hispanic Ministerial Alliance also opposes Landwehr's proposal, saying it is unjust, especially the portions that affect housing.

Illegal immigrants "are human beings created in the image of God like you and me, regardless of their legal status, they are a human being like you and me," he said.

Groups like Figueroa's are watching to see how laws such as Oklahoma's are enforced before taking action, he said.

Really a federal issue?

The Oklahoma law has already withstood initial challenges in court, said Oklahoma Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, who crafted his state's law.

Calling illegal immigration reform a federal issue is a common myth, Terrill said.

States are sovereign entities in the government system and should be protecting their residents, he said.

"It's states and their citizens that are bearing the bulk of the financial burden (of illegal immigration)," he said.

Oklahoma's law, by repeating federal law, also gives state and local law enforcement jurisdiction to arrest illegal immigrants, he explained.

Landwehr's proposal is based in part on Oklahoma's law targeting illegal immigration that went into effect Nov. 1.

Missouri also is working on crafting a law, even more reason to worry illegal immigrants will move to Kansas, Landwehr said.

There is anecdotal evidence that the migration has begun, Terrill said.

"It's not an accident that what was our problem is now, slowly but surely, becoming your problem," he said.

Effects in Oklahoma

Duplicating Oklahoma's law would "send your economy down hill in a hurry," said Oklahoma Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, the only Republican to vote against the new law.

The Pew center estimated there were 50,000 to 75,000 undocumented workers in Oklahoma in 2005.

Coates said he heard from farmers growing crops such as tomatoes and melons whose produce rotted on the vine because of a lack of people to pick them.

And that was before the law went into effect because it created "an aura of fear," said Bobby Stem, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of General Contractors.

While the employee has documents, the wife or another family member might not, and the worker runs the risk of winding up in jail for driving family members around, Stem said.

The state's law makes it illegal for anyone to transport or house someone who is in the country illegally.

Under that cloud of fear, some legal employees are leaving the state, he said, with some contractors losing people who have worked for them for more than a decade.

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/273217.html

While the employee has documents, the wife or another family member might not, and the worker runs the risk of winding up in jail for driving family members around, Stem said.


Why do they keep saying these assinine things.

You know if I harbor a known criminal, family member or not, I'm in trouble. I would think driving them around, helping them would be the same as aiding and abetting a criminal. Why do they think it shouldn't be a crime?

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