Thread: State laws ultimately cannot solve illegal immigration

Bias alert! author is head of Tennessee Jobs Coalition

February 17, 2008
State laws ultimately cannot solve illegal immigration
By DAN HASKELL - Chairman of the Tennessee Jobs Coalition.

Earlier this year, Tennessee amended several state immigration laws, in effect stiffening enforcement provisions. The business community, by and large, believes these reforms were positive for Tennessee.

The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development can now suspend an employer's business license if the company knowingly employs an illegal immigrant. The license can be restored once the company proves all employees are in our country legally. If the business commits a second violation within five years, its license could be suspended one year.

Like other states, Tennessee has grown weary of waiting for Washington to act on illegal immigration. Rather than wait exhaustingly for federal action, Tennessee essentially has embarked on the path of "patchworking" this problem. Realizing some change was inevitable last session, the business community fully engaged on this issue and helped leaders find common ground.

Not surprisingly, little has changed in Washington since last summer.

As a result, some in Nashville want more teeth in Tennessee's immigration laws. With this being a mid-term election year, with all seats in the House up for grabs and elected officials feeling the need to take some action on this emotional issue, the Tennessee Jobs Coalition — which counts as founding members Associated Builders & Contractors, National Federation of Independent Business, the Tennessee Business Roundtable, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, Tennessee Hotel and Lodging Association, Tennessee Restaurant Association and the Tennessee Retail Association — expects many immigration bills could be filed in the current session. Our coalition plans to do what it can to educate elected officials and the public on specific legislation in the coming weeks and months.

The current emphasis on employers has focused us on a particular failure of the current federal immigration system. It is essentially impossible for employers to comply with state and federal statutes against employing undocumented immigrants. Federal law has long required that employers review and maintain copies of identifying documents from employees, but fraudulent documents are often indistinguishable from the real ones.

Employers have now been offered the possibility of participating in a federal pilot program called E-Verify. It allows you to input identifying numbers from submitted documents to confirm that the documents all belong to the same person. Unfortunately, the program cannot confirm that the applicant is the person referred to in the documents. Today, there is no sure way to guarantee that an applicant is legal when presented with high quality fraudulent documents.

I'd like to share a general overview of the issue on behalf of the 800,000-plus Tennesseans employed with the companies represented by the TJC.

The Tennessee Jobs Coalition believes immigration is a federal issue that should be addressed at the federal level. The coalition will continue to remind everyone that the broader business community believes more energy should be spent encouraging a comprehensive federal solution. Eventually, Washington will act to address this national challenge.

New efforts in Tennessee, as well-intended as they can be, could wind up doing a lot more harm than good for everyone. Tennessee should work to avoid heading down the path of overreach, like Arizona, which has adopted excessive criminal and civil penalties that could severely damage that state's economy.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Arizona businesses are firing Hispanic immigrants because they fear they cannot adequately verify the legal status of those workers under the current government system. Some businesses, according to the Journal, are moving their enterprises to Mexico or freezing expansion plans. Who does this ultimately serve? Certainly not the general interests of the people of Arizona.

Other states, like Virginia, are considering similar measures that could dampen their economies in a similar fashion.

The Tennessee Jobs Coalition believes in a sensible immigration policy consistent with Tennessee's economic needs. We will address immigration reform through public education, as well dissemination of facts and data that underscore the economic advantages and disadvantages of various proposals.

Tennessee took some sensible steps last year to beef up immigration enforcement. The new laws send a message to employers that may have been skirting our laws intentionally, without harming our economic needs and growth. Tennessee would do well in 2008 to maintain a pro-growth immigration policy and to encourage our elected officials in Washington to find common ground soon on this federal problem.

Dan Haskell is chairman of the Tennessee Jobs Coalition.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /OPINION01

Ah, you can smell the fear in that headline can't ya?

W

Those (Chamber of Commerce, National Home Builders Association, Service Workers Industry, AgriBusiness Lobby, etc.) that are complicit in the ruse "to help undocumented workers attain a better life," also help themselves to a better profit in the process at the expense of the American citizen and LEGAL immigrant.

I agree, it will not be the ultimate solution. But it will be a lot easier for ICE when all of the illegals have been corralled into one or two states who refuse to address this situation. The one or two states may end up feeling like Chicago of the 30's when the time comes, but the other 48 states will only have a little mopping up to do.