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AP
Miss. to Verify Worker Status Under Bill
Friday February 9, 5:31 pm ET
By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press Writer
Bill Aims for Mississippi Businesses to Verify Workers' Status

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Businesses would have to verify that their employees are either U.S. citizens or are in the country legally, under a bill the Mississippi House passed Friday.

The proposal sparked more than an hour of heated debate between supporters who said they're trying to safeguard American jobs and opponents who said the plan unfairly singles out certain groups, particularly Hispanics.

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Rep. Willie Bailey, D-Greenville, said some lawmakers were backing the bill only to pander to voters back home this election year.

"There are people supporting this bill because they're scared they're not getting back here," Bailey said. "You need to go home because you have no guts. You have no glory."

The chief sponsor of the bill, Rep. Mike Lott, R-Petal, responded that he's not trying to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment.

"I'm doing this not because I'm fearful of a race of people," Lott said.

The bill -- which still must go to the Senate -- is called the "Mississippi Employment Protection Act." It says: "Employers in the state of Mississippi shall only hire employees who are legal citizens of the United States of America or legal aliens."

It says companies that fail to comply could have their public work contracts canceled and could be ineligible for any public contracts for three years; could lose any state licenses or certificates for a year; could be fined up to $1,000; or a combination of the penalties.

"We're not here to hurt anybody who's trying to obey the law," Lott said.

Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, reminded the House that back in the 1920s, the federal government set limits on certain groups of immigrants who then were considered "undesirables," and some of those immigrants might be forebears of people now in the Legislature.

Blackmon said Lott's proposal is unenforceable.

"This is a piece of feel-good legislation for people who want to say, 'We socked it to those illegal immigrants' without saying, 'We're socking it to you,'" Blackmon said.

Rep. Deryk Parker, D-Lucedale, argued for the bill, challenging the assertion that illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans don't want. Parker also incorporated a seemingly unrelated argument against abortion.

"How many babies have we aborted in the last few years?" Parker said. "They could be filling those jobs."