Thread: FL: Big biz worried about immigration reaction

Big biz worried about immigration reaction

January 25, 2011

By MICHAEL PELTIER

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's largest business groups on Monday joined worker advocates in urging state lawmakers to tread lightly through the minefield of immigration, saying the state's economy and culture are indelibly linked to foreign labor.

Meeting before a special Senate committee addressing immigration in preparation for the upcoming session, representatives of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida -- two of the largest business lobbies in the state -- said the economic benefits of foreign-born workers, both legal and illegal, outweigh the costs to the state for education, criminal justice, health and social service programs.

Further, they said the federal E-Verify system, an Internet-based program to track immigrant status at the job site, is flawed and not ready to be relied upon by businesses to accurately determine who to hire.

Gov. Rick Scott has signed an executive order requiring that new hires in state agencies and those who contract with them be checked by E-verify. Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, has filed SB 518, which would require private employers to use the same system on new hires.

Scott also campaigned heavily on the immigration issue, praising the Arizona immigration law and promising to "bring it to Florida."

With immigration among the most politically charged issues in recent years, and a lightning rod of last year's campaign, big business has been murmuring that the charge to enforce stricter immigration laws at the state level could be problematic for employers.

That's particularly true in industries that employ lots of immigrants, who will work for low wages, some of them working under the table. Some of those industries are among the most important in Florida -- tourism, agriculture, construction.

But the talk has been mostly quiet as the general tide among big business' traditional allies -- Republicans -- has been the other way, stridently in favor of cracking down on illegal immigration.

Business got a little cover last week when Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former congressman and a farmer, said Florida should tread very carefully, noting that anything that sends the message that Florida is anti-immigrant would be bad for the state's economy.

On Monday, big business was much more open about its stance.

The Chamber's report, "Immigration and Florida's Economy" was unequivocal: Immigration restrictions will have a negative impact on Florida's business climate and could cost the state hundreds of millions in lost revenue, output and business opportunities.

David Brill, president of the Florida Chamber Foundation, said immigrant workers are a net benefit to the state. Citing a review of other studies, Brill said that immigrants statistically have higher rates of starting new businesses and use public services less than natural-born citizens, often because they're afraid to.

"The immigrants who do come to the United States come here to work and add to the economy," Brill said.

Business isn't just worried about the effect of immigration legislation on immigrants. It's perhaps even more worried about the effect on the state's image.

Adam Babington, the chamber's vice president for governmental affairs, said state lawmakers need to be careful not to provoke the wrath of foreign companies and investors. He estimated Arizona saw $141 million in lost convention and tourism business after the state passed its law -- and said that would be a drop in the bucket to what Florida would lose.

"It's critical that Florida protect its strong brand as a state that welcomes tourists, promotes international trade, and supplies much of the nation's fruits and vegetables," Babington said. "Florida must use caution with any immigration restrictions to help ensure we don't provoke an economic boycott or restrict economic growth."

The business groups came head to head with a coalition of groups calling on lawmakers to support legislation to reduce the incentive for employers to hire undocumented workers at lower wages than U.S. citizens or foreign workers trying to get into the country through legal avenues.

"They are stealing the American dream from somebody who wants to come to this country legally," said Jack Oliver, legislative director for Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, a group supporting tougher immigration enforcement.

The group supports Hays' effort to require employers to use E-verify to screen new hire, saying over the long haul it would reduce the number of undocumented workers hired in the private sector.

"It would act like a protective shield against a (surge) of foreign workers in times of economic booms, " said David Caulkett, vice president of Floridians for Immigration Enforcement.

But Associated Industries vice president for external relations Brewster Bevis, countered that E-verify is not the answer either, saying the federal system is error prone, echoing concerns also raised by Putnam last week.

"Despite improvements made in E-verify, the reality is that it remains a flawed system," said Bevis.

http://staugustine.com

January 25, 2011
Statute meant to protect jobs isn't enforced

As state senators mull an immigration crackdown, they learn that a state immigration law hasn't been enforced in 11 years.

BY MARC CAPUTO
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- Illegal immigration either costs or saves Floridians billions of dollars. It's inspired by racism. Or it's a fight to stop slave-labor wages.

The polarizing views and stats clashed Monday at the Florida Senate's second fact-finding committee meeting over immigration. But one number wasn't disputed. Zero.

That's the number of employers who have been charged with breaking an 11-year-old Florida law that prohibits anyone from knowingly hiring a person ``who is not duly authorized to work by the immigration laws or the Attorney General of the United States.''

``From what I can find, from our statistics, the statute has never been enforced,'' said Michael Ramage, general counsel for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

NO RECORDS EXIST

Ramage said he checked law-enforcement and court-clerk databases and found 16 separate cases that initially looked like violations of the statute, but he said police improperly leveled the charge. Ramage said there's a chance that some employers in some counties could have been hit with a civil -- as opposed to criminal -- charge. But no records of that exist.

Why hasn't the statute been used?

``There's probably little time and little resources for law enforcement to proactively go and scope out employers and see if they're in violation of this law,'' Ramage speculated.

Now that Republican lawmakers are trying to live up to the campaign-season's promise to pass a new immigration reform, the fate of the old law is a clear indicator that local law enforcement officials seldom wish to get involved in immigration cases, which are largely federal matters.

But the much-ballyhooed law in Arizona changed the debate. That law -- blocked for now by a federal court -- contained the controversial provision that required police to ask suspects about their immigration status.

OPPOSE MEASURE

On the campaign trail, Gov. Rick Scott promised to bring the Arizona law to Florida. Senate President Mike Haridopolos then established a committee to draft a bill. But state senators, including the sponsor of the Arizona-style bill, say they probably won't pass an Arizona-style bill.

A big reason for the opposition: Polls have shown that Hispanics, the state's fastest-growing electoral bloc, oppose the measure.

``We suspect and we fear this is motivated by political fear and by racism,'' Maria del Rosario Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. ``It's not about jobs. It's not about security. It's not about the economy.''

But Jack Oliver, legislative director of Floridians for Immigration Reform, testified that the immigration debate is all about jobs and the economy. Lawful residents don't work in the farm industry ``because of the slave-labor wages paid in the agricultural business,'' he said.

``When an illegal alien comes to this country, they're stealing the American dream from someone who wants to come here legally,'' Oliver said.

Oliver's ally, Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, estimated that illegal immigration costs Florida taxpayers $5.2 billion due to increased pressure on the criminal-justice, healthcare and education systems.

MORE TAX REVENUE

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, though, disputed those statistics. The chamber released a report saying, for instance, that the presence of illegal immigrants doesn't increase crime rates. The chamber report said that immigrants, even those here unlawfully, produce more tax revenue than they consume.

The chamber's ally, Associated Industries of Florida, took aim at an immigration bill that would require employers to use the federal government's E-Verify computer system to avoid hiring undocumented workers. AIF lobbyist Brewster Bevis said the system was too flawed to be reliable, too burdensome to use and could expose businesses to lawsuits.

Sen. Greg Evers, a Republican strawberry farmer from Baker, said he understood both sides of the debate. But, he said, the state needs to do more.

``E-Verify may not be all the answer,'' he said. ``But you have to use something.''

www.miamiherald.com

Meeting before a special Senate committee addressing immigration in preparation for the upcoming session, representatives of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida -- two of the largest business lobbies in the state -- said the economic benefits of foreign-born workers, both legal and illegal, outweigh the costs to the state for education, criminal justice, health and social service programs.

No problemo! Now that you've testified presumably under oath before a "special Senate committee" you need to DOCUMENT your claims with names, companies, addresses and contact numbers of all the businesses involved in hiring illegal aliens along with a list of all the names and addresses of all this "foreign labor" that Florida is dependent on and provide a financial accounting of how they benefit from hiring illegal foreign workers in Florida, how they find the workers, and how they avoid hiring legal workers, required by law, along with a description of how you hire illegal workers instead of the legal workers you're required by law to hire and still comply with US labor and US civil rights laws. This should of course all be documented to the penny, nickel and dime

They should also explain how they manage to find all these illegal workers living in the shadows but can't find all these unemployed/underemployed citizen workers registered for work with the Employment Security Commission.

Folks, it's time for tough love.

BOYCOTT the Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries. Take Spring Break to Arizona and stop drinking juice. Americans drink too much juice anyway. It's hard on your kidneys and is probably the reason your kids have circles under their eyes, not to mention that it's destroying the enamel on your teeth.

These fools have no idea who they're messing with. So what's it gonna be Florida businesses? You want your orange groves or your illegal aliens? You'll have to pick one or the other, because Americans will not let you keep both of them. We're done, we've had it, we're fed up to the gills with international gangsters exploiting our country and impoverishing our citizens in bold and blatant violation of US immigration, US labor and US civil rights laws. We're through with you, do you hear US? You're finished. We'll bankrupt your butts long before we let you destroy our country, do you hear US?

If you can't hear US, then you've not been listening.