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Ordinance to restrict illegal immigrants eyed
By Ed Baker
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - Updated: 05:16 PM EST



Casimiro said that the ordinance is needed because Congress is not making any strides to remedy illegal immigration in the United States.
“Last year, the House of Representatives and the Senate produced two competing bills,” he said. “Because the issue was so contentious and the differences in the two bills were so significant, no conference committee could be formed to resolve their differences. The 109th Congress adjourned with no significant action on immigration reform.”
Casimiro said that local authorities have been forced to confront illegal immigrants on several occasions during the past five years.
“Mr. Joseph Dickey of Weymouth was allegedly killed in an automobile accident by an illegal alien in April, 2002,” he said. “We’ve been told that five percent of the traffic stops by the Weymouth police department involve illegal aliens. This might be an area to be explored by the (town council) public safety committee.”
During a raid in September, 2003, Casimiro said, federal authorities discovered that illegal immigrants were using a home on Jaffrey Street to produce fraudulent documents to smuggle non-citizens into the United States.
Connolly argued that the ordinance is needed to prevent illegal immigrants from being exploited by businesses and homeowners.
“Businesses and homeowners who hire illegal immigrants turn a blind eye towards their exploitation, which is immoral and corrupts our values,” he said. “They, too, show contempt for our laws, and their greed and selfishness tear the fabric of our community. The ordinance addresses that problem.”
The proposed ordinance requires that:
The Weymouth licensing board and police enforce its legalities.
Businesses cannot willfully hire illegal immigrants.
Businesses must state they do not knowingly hire illegal immigrants on an affidavit to the town solicitor, George Lane.
After a complaint notice is issued, businesses must provide the licensing board with information about workers who are alleged to be illegal immigrants in three working days.
Employers who fail to comply with a request by the licensing board to supply information about alleged illegal immigrants will have their commercial license suspended until details about the workers are submitted.
The licensing board must notify businesses whenever an employee is discovered to be an illegal immigrant after an investigation.
The proposal additionally requires businesses that are found to have two or more illegal immigrants working for them on an initial violation to participate in the federal Basic Pilot program.
Basic Pilot allows employers to verify a worker’s identity with the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau.
The proposed ordinance penalizes landlords who knowingly rent a unit to an illegal immigrant.
Landlords won’t be allowed to collect rental payments or fees from any tenants if they willfully rent a dwelling to an illegal immigrant and don’t take decisive actions to end the violation.
“Weymouth has a large number of rental units, which a low-wage earner cannot afford,” Connolly said. “However, many illegal immigrants live in overcrowded conditions that violate zoning laws and health ordinances and do so in self-righteous contempt for our laws.”
Councilor-at-large Patrick O’Connor said that illegal immigration is a significant issue that should be discussed at length.
“As chairman of the public safety committee, I agree that illegal immigration is a major problem in the United States,” he said. “In Weymouth, I do think there should be a lengthy discussion over this. I promise to bring this issue up to the public safety committee.”
When the discussion ended, Council President Michael Smart thanked Connolly and Casimiro for sharing their proposal.
Weymouth Police Sgt. John Concannon said police did not tell Casimiro that five percent of traffic stops involve illegal immigrants.
“I don’t know where he got that information,” he said on Jan. 17. “I don’t know how many car stops our officers do during the course of a year.”
Concannon said that police only stop a motorist when an infraction occurs.
“When we stop a car, it’s based on an infraction and not based on a person’s skin color or ethnicity,” he said. “We stop a car for a motor vehicle violation.”
Concannon said police can only verify if a driver has a motor vehicle license during a road stop.
“We only determine whether they have an arrest record, but we can’t determine if they are in the country illegally,” he said.
Casimiro said the proposed ordinance is modeled after similar ordinances being considered or approved by several towns in Massachusetts.
“We took a model ordinance drafted by advocacy groups,” he added.