NE - Talk of ordinance prohibiting harboring, hiring of illegal aliens surfaces

Village board members agree to do more research, discuss at Feb. 18 meeting

By Teresa Hoffman Jan 24, 2019 Updated 6 hrs ago

The Arlington Village Board of Trustees is considering whether to join the cities of Fremont and Scribner in enacting an ordinance prohibiting the harboring of illegal aliens or the hiring of unauthorized aliens and making provisions for obtaining occupancy licenses for those leasing or renting dwellings in the village.

"There's been some talk that we may be interested in following suit with Fremont and Scribner," Chairman Paul Krause said during Monday's board meeting. "I put it on (the agenda) because I wanted to get a feel of where the board is at."

The board discussed the issue for less than five minutes before deciding it needed further study and discussion.

"I would suggest that you think about it, read through Scribner's ordinance, see if that's the direction we want to go and if it is, fine, if not, forget it," Vice Chairman Mark Sundberg said. "Talk to people, see what your constituents' feelings are and come back next month and then have a discussion about it."

Even with the brief discussion, questions emerged, such as how the ordinance would be enforced. Board member Jason Wiese pointed out that Fremont and Scribner have different resources than Arlington for enforcement.

"Fremont has a lawyer, Fremont has (police) officers," Wiese said. "They are ready to enforce it."

Scribner also has its own police department. Arlington, on the other hand, contracts with the Washington County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services.

Sundberg suggested someone reach out to officials in Scribner before next month's meeting.

"You may want to talk to them," he said, noting that their attorneys have reported that, by in large, everything is working. "It would give us an idea of what impact that would have on this office."

According to the Fremont Tribune, a July vote by the Scribner City Council put the ordinance, modeled after the Fremont ordinance, on the Nov. 6 general election ballot, when it was approved by voters.

The Scribner ordinance requires that, prior to occupying any leased or rented dwelling, each occupant, age 18 or older, to obtain an occupancy license. According to the ordinance, it is the occupant's responsibility to submit an application to the Scribner Police Department and pay a $5 fee to the city.

The owner or manager of any dwelling unit must notify each prospective occupant of the requirement and shall not permit occupancy of a dwelling unit unless the occupant first obtains an occupancy license.

The occupancy license would be valid only for the occupant as long as they continue to live in the dwelling unit for which the license was applied. Any relocation to a different dwelling would require a new license.

Not only is standard information, such as applicant's name, date of birth and the address of the dwelling, required, but so is the occupant's citizenship. U.S. citizens will be required to sign a form declaring that they are a U.S. Citizen and face repercussions if they knowingly provide false statements or claims. Those people who are not citizens will be required to provide proof of their lawful presence in the United States.

The ordinance also contains information on business licenses, contracts or grants and the E-Verify Program.

"It is the policy of the city to discourage business entities from knowingly recruiting, hiring for employment or continuing to employ any person who is an unauthorized alien to perform work with the city," the ordinance said.

The ordinance requires all agencies of the city to register in the E-Verify Program and use it to verify authorization of employment in the United States of each employee hired after such registration.

The city attorney may bring a civil action against any business entity suspected of failing to register in the E-Verify Program and verify the authorization of employment in the U.S. of each employee hired after such registration.

If any business entity possesses a license, permit, contract, loan or grant issued by the city and fails to follow the ordinance rules, they shall be be tried at a public hearing before the Scribner City Council. A violation could result in the revocation of the license, canceling of the contract, recalling of the grant or accelerating the loan and the institution of action to collect any money due.

Before moving forward in Arlington, Krause agreed that it would be a good idea for board members to do some more research and come back for discussion next month.

If Arlington would pass such an ordinance, it would be the first community in Washington County to have such rules.

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Cities need to enforce fire code regulations where illegal aliens stuff 4 families into one single family dwelling.

They do this to live cheap, get free stuff and send their $50 billion back over the border.

This destroys neighborhoods, lowers property taxes, and increases crime. Then the taxes are lower and that is money lost, not going back into the local services of police, fire, EMT's, etc. They are bankrupting our cities and our states.

Not only do they rip us off by living this way...they also rip us off by sending $50 billion back over the border and not spending that money on our economy.

They are not here to live a better life and have a nice home that is well kept, they do it to make money and go home and live cheap back across the border.