Tenn.: Immigration Check Bill Delayed
Tuesday April 10, 12:29 pm ET
By Erik Schelzig, Associated Press Writer
Tennessee Senate Delays Bill on Mandatory Immigration Checks for Employers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A vote on a proposal to require employers to verify the immigration status of any new hire was delayed after extended questioning by Senate Democrats.
Under the bill, employers would have to check an electronic database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for any new employee, and documentation would have to be kept on file by the employer for two years.

The Senate stripped out what could have been up to a $1,000 fine for companies that violate the proposal, and the law would lapse after 18 months if it is not renewed next year.

"I wanted to find the simplest process we could find that wouldn't be a burden to employers," Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin and the bill's sponsor, said Monday. "My intention was to heighten awareness."

Sen. Douglas Henry, D-Nashville, said he opposed making small businesses police immigration laws.

"To make the small businesses take this on themselves -- even if it's only for 18 months -- and activity which is properly the purview of the federal government ... is to me an imposition on a small business."

Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, asked why the bill is necessary if the federal database is already available to any employer who wants to use it. Sen. John Wilder, D-Mason, added that he doesn't want to target immigrant labor.

"I couldn't run my cotton gin without Mexican help, and I've done it for a long time," said Wilder.

Johnson agreed to delay a vote on the bill after Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, noted that the bill might be so broad as to include checking on the immigration status of neighborhood kids hired to mow the lawn.

Johnson said he only wants to require the immigration checks for full-time jobs.

The companion bill has yet to be scheduled for a hearing in the House Government Operations Committee.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070410/tn_immig ... .html?.v=1