Minutemen group pushes ballot measure to ban hiring illegal immigrants in Springfield
Minutemen sponsoring bill that could head to the ballot in February

by Mike Landis, KY3 News mlandis@ky3.com

12:41 a.m. CDT, July 20, 2011

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- As national unemployment hovers at 9 percent, an Ozarks group is trying to curb what it believes is part of the problem.

"Having illegal aliens coming in and taking those jobs is a real issue for some people," said Jerry Wilson, spokesman for the Ozarks Minutemen, a group pushing for local immigration reform. "We believe that the United States government has failed the American people in their responsibility to control illegal immigration."

The local Minutemen chapter submittted signatures for an initiative petition that would force businesses to dig deeper to verify the immigration status of employees. The organization needs about 2,100 valid signatures of registered voters in the city; it says it submitted 2,400 to the city clerk's office. The city clerk still has to verify the signatures on the petitions.

Under the initiative petition, businesses would be forced to check the immigration status of employees using the federal E-verify database. Currently, Missouri law already requires all entities doing business with the state to use the system.

"It has nothing to do with racism, it has to do with the law of the land," said Wilson. "We support legal immigrants. Our country was founded on legal immigration and built by immigrants.

The City of Springfield could levy fines, and suspend or take away business licenses for places caught hiring those in the country unlawfully. However, the constitutionality of part of the initiative is being called into question.

"The suspension of licenses, business licenses is probably fine. But that provision about the finance director issuing fines would probably fail," said City Attorney Dan Wichmer.

Wichmer bases his thought on the Belt vs. City of Springfield decision by the Missouri Supreme Court in March 2010. That ruling stated the city cannot administratively levy fines. The case has been used as an argument against the constitutionality of Springfield's red light camera system.

"Do I think there are some concerns about parts of it? Yes," Wichmer said. "But the other parts of it appear to track what the [U.S.] Supreme Court said was valid in Arizona."

In May, the high court of the land ruled Arizona could indeed mandate use of the E-verify system, and could suspend or strip business of their licenses for hiring illegal workers.

If the signatures are verified, the initiative would make its way to City Council. Members could then vote on it themselves, or forward it on to the citizens for a vote in February.

KY3 contacted Grupo Lationoamericano, a local immigrant advocacy group, for its opinion regarding the proposal. The organization was unable to offer comment by newstime.

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-story-minut ... 999.story#