Thread: KNOXVILLE, Tenn- City weighs penalties on illegal immigrant

City weighs penalties on illegal immigrant hires
Associated Press - August 19, 2010 6:35 PM ET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee city is weighing an ordinance that would penalize companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

The Knoxville City Commission is set to hold a second reading of the proposal on Monday, after which it could take effect.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that the ordinance would subject businesses licensed to operate in Knox County to a range of penalties if they knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

On first offense, the company would lose its business license for 30 days; on second offense, the company would lose it for one year plus face a $1,000 fine. On the third offense, the county would revoke the company's business license permanently.

Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com



http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=13015054

Is E-Verify required? The term "Knowingly" allows a big loophole without it.

Local business immigration policy on hold for 30 days
Anthony Welsch Updated: 8/23/2010 10:06:00 PM Posted: 8/23/2010 9:54:31 PM


Pointing to unthought of consequences for some business owners, Knox County Commissioners put off a proposed ordinance to penalize local businesses who employ undocumented workers Monday night.

"Our county cannot keep up with this. We're having a hard time. Plus, it's not just the jobs we're losing, we can no longer pay for this," Commissioner Paul Pinkston, the sponsor of the ordinance said.

The ordinance would strip local businesses of their license and dole out fines if they are found to be employing illegal aliens.

Pinkston says it's as easy as checking your employees on the federal program E-Verify before hiring them.


"These illegals right now are costing Knox County more than $2 million a year. We have to do something, I'm pro business but we have to take a step," Pinkston said.

Local attorney Bob Bowman came to the commissioners asking for additional time.

Bowman represents several businesses in Knox County, many of them fast food restaurants that are worried about the ordinance.

Bowman says things like disgruntled managers could cause a business to be in violation. On first offense, the ordinance calls for the county to suspend a business' license. In the case of many fast food restaurants, without a business license they lose their franchise. That's a loss of potentially millions of dollars.

Bowman asked for 30 days to work with the County Law Director's Office to put safeguards in place to protect responsible business owners.

"They are very afraid, Bowman said. "We agree something needs to be done and the federal government hasn't done everything they need to when it comes to enforcement."

Paul Pinkston was the lone vote against deferring the ordinance a month.

www.wbir.com

Knox County commissioners willing to include safeguards to immigration plan
By Mike Donila
Knoxville News Sentinel
Posted August 26, 2010 at midnight

A plan to penalize Knox County companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants will move forward, county officials say.

However, they are willing to work with the public to iron out the details.

Days after Knox County Commission tabled the proposed ordinance, officials say they'll meet in the next few weeks with a local attorney who is expected to help them craft a plan that all sides will find favorable. The idea is still to punish local companies that violate the law, but backers also want to be fair.

As it stands, the ordinance would subject businesses licensed to operate in Knox County to a range of penalties if they knowingly hire illegal immigrants. On a first offense, the company would lose its business license for 30 days; on a second offense, the company would lose it for one year and face a $1,000 fine. On a third offense, the county would revoke the company's business license permanently.

That's still the plan.

But, commissioners want to include some safeguards just in case a disgruntled manager violates the ordinance as a way to sabotage a business. And they want to further study whether the law is nothing more than a mirror of current federal and state guidelines.

Bob Bowman, the attorney who will work with the county, says he thinks it does. He also questions its constitutionality. But, County Law Director Joe Jarret says the proposal only further outlines Tennessee guidelines as they apply to cover all locally issued permits. And, he said, it's allowed under federal law because the courts have carved out a narrow exception for licensing and permitting.

Regardless of their positions, the two say they'll talk further about it before a new and smaller commission meets in late September to again hear the ordinance.

Bowman and Angel Martinez, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee, say the current proposal has too many other holes in it.

'No one wants immigrants to come into the country illegally, but this ordinance has unintended consequences. It doesn't include the right to have a hearing, there's no procedural safeguards, no due process for business,' said Bowman, who specializes in employment law.

The Knoxville attorney declined to say whom he represents, but said his clients include 'a number of fast food franchisees that you'll pass up and down Kingston Pike … and from Mountain City to Memphis.'

Martinez, whose group's membership is 140 businesses strong, said he'd just like to have commissioners seek input from small companies, something he says they don't always do.

The proposal, spearheaded by outgoing Commissioner Paul Pinkston, was meant to give companies extra incentive to use E-verify, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services online system that allows businesses to determine whether potential employees are eligible to work in the country.

Enforcement of the ordinance would hinge on action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that pursues civil and criminal cases against companies and individuals in matters of immigration law. The county will not launch its own enforcement efforts, but if ICE investigates a county business for immigration violations and fines or penalties result, then the county will step in with its own punishment.

Pinkston, whose last day as a commissioner is Wednesday, said all sides are turning what he says is something simple into something complicated.

'We can just change the wording so that if a disgruntled employee is to blame then — as long as they haven't worked there longer than two weeks, which is enough time for their boss to check them out — then maybe we don't do anything,' he said. 'But (overall) we need to do something to punish them. We as a country have to do something to stop this — and not just illegal immigration, because that's not what this is really about. It's about businesses illegally hiring people when we have people here legally who are willing to work.'

The bottom line, other commissioners added, is that most businesses won't be affected if the ordinance passes. But, they, too, want it in place just to be safe.

'It all boils down to this: It's against the law to be in this country illegally and then come in and take a job and free medical care when the average Joe is working to pay for all that,' Commissioner Mike Brown said. 'So I'm certainly in agreement that we need to do something.'

www.knoxnews.com