Thread: TX: New bill targets employers who hire illegal immigrants

New bill targets employers who hire illegal immigrants
Crime would carry penalty of state jail time

By Tim Eaton AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAF

Updated: 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011

Published: 8:36 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011


One of the Texas House's most prolific writers of anti-illegal immigration legislation filed her fifth related bill Wednesday. This one targets employers who hire undocumented workers.

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball , said her bill would make it a state jail felony "to intentionally, knowingly or recklessly hire a person who is not lawfully permitted to be in America."

"Employers who reward and incentivize this illegal behavior are the primary culprit in the illegal immigration problem," Riddle said in a statement. "Now they're going to have to think hard about whether or not it's worth the risk to them and their business when they make these hiring decisions."

The bill would exempt from prosecution people who hire undocumented workers to help out at single-family residences.

The one-page bill is one of about 50 measures that have been filed in the state House and Senate that seek to curb illegal immigration.

House Bill 1202 drew quick criticism from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Luis Figueroa, a staff attorney for MALDEF, said Riddle's bill asks too much of law enforcement and could prove to be problematic for people in the country legally.

Police have neither the expertise nor the resources to determine someone's work status, and officers who might raid a company wouldn't necessarily know what documents to look for, he said.

"Immigration law is extremely complicated," Figueroa said. "It is very similar to asking a police officer to enforce the IRS tax code."

But Riddle's chief of staff, Jon English, said the measure would be simple.

"This will work like any other crime," he said.

It would be up to individual law enforcement agencies and district attorneys to decide how much of their resources they would dedicate to enforcing the proposed law.

Local prosecutors also would decide whom they'd prosecute.

It could be a corporation, a CEO or whomever the prosecutor feels is culpable, English said.

He added that the exemption for people who hire workers at single-family homes shows that Riddle is going after big employers, not individuals who might hire an undocumented person to work around the house.

It is not yet clear how much traction the bill will get in the Legislature. But English said he and Riddle were bolstered when Gov. Rick Perry called for such action in his State of the State speech Tuesday.

English said Riddle's office had not been in touch with Perry about the bill before his remarks.

"I guess we're just thinking along the same lines," English said.

After Perry's speech, one Austin lawmaker, Rep. Paul Workman, a Republican, said securing the border should be the first priority.

"We need to get border security under control before we deal with the undocumented workers that are here," said Workman, who is a business owner and member of the House's Business and Industry Committee.

One of the state's most prominent business groups has already said Riddle's bill is misguided.

Bill Hammond, the president of the Texas Association of Business , said the measure is the wrong remedy for a problem that should be solved at the national level.

If passed, the measure would hold employers accountable for Congress' failure to pass immigration reform, he said.

Plus, Hammond said, it would be too hard for employers to determine a worker's status.

"We think it is unfair to ask them to be forensics experts," he said.

www.statesman.com

HERE IS THE BILL

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1182558.html

related

Indiana - Arizona-style immigration law passes Senate Committee
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-227646-0-da ... rasc-.html

While not every immigration bill is going to pass...there will be some that make it through and they will become the foundation for the future in controling illegals within our country. The latino press may not be printing it but the current move within our borders is strong and steady in a direction of establishing no ANCHOR BABIES and documentation checking of any and all suspected illegals. Illegals will become trespassers within many states if not almost nation wide...( I doubt California will ever really get with the program). Obama needs to finally get with it also and drop the Amnisty and Dream Act thing. The WH needs to follow the will of the REAL AMERICAN MAJORITY and proceed with a strong policy that includes a tightly secured border.

Added to Homepage-

http://www.alipac.us/article-6070--0-0.html

These people that think this is a bad bill, it's too hard for employers to tell who can work legally, apparently have never heard of E-VERIFY.

February 11, 2011
Latest Riddle bill targeting employers stirs the pot

The Austin American Statesman reports that State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, filed a fifth immigration-related bill this session, this time targeting employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

The Statesman reported that she filed a bill that would make it a state jail felony "to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly hire a person who is not lawfully permitted to be in America."

Riddle said in a statement: "Employers who reward and incentivize this illegal behavior are the primary culprit in the illegal immigration problem...Now they're going to have to think hard about whether or not it's worth the risk to them and their business when they make these hiring decisions."

The bill (and Riddle's other four, detailed below courtesy of the Statesman) prompted the leader of the local La Raza Justice Movement, Hector Chavana Jr., to issue this statement:

"Employers now have to take sides, and they will have to decide if they want to be on the side of those who would make them felons or those who are fighting for human rights and full documentation for workers," he wrote.

Chavana's press release charged that the package of bills that Riddle has sponsored "mirror much of what preceded Jewish internment in concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Harassment of school-age students, employers and municipalities were all part of the Nazi program as well as that of pro-apartheid South Africa."


Riddle's other bills:



* HB 17 which creates the offense of Criminal Trespass by Illegal Alien and allows state law enforcement to arrest those who are in the country in violation of federal criminal immigration laws;


* HB 18 which would deny state funding to municipalities that prohibit the enforcement of federal immigration laws;


* HB 21 which requires state agencies to report the cost of services the agency provides to illegal aliens; and


* HB 22 which requires schools to report the citizenship and immigration status of students to the Texas Education Agency.


http://oneoldvet.com/

http://blogs.chron.com

House Bill 1202 drew quick criticism from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Luis Figueroa, a staff attorney for MALDEF, said Riddle's bill asks too much of law enforcement and could prove to be problematic for people in the country legally.

These traitors of the mexican government always have an excuse as to why efforts to crack down on criminal illegal invaders would be "problematic" for our country!

As if 20 million illegal invaders in this country, stealing jobs from Americans and legal immigrants is not "problematic!"
My guess is that people in this country legally are willing to take a chance if it in fact this law can reduce the number of illegal invaders, illegally competing with them for scarce jobs.

Notice how MALDEF never condemns the actions of those who enter this country in violation of our immigration laws and use fraudulent/stolen identifications to usurp jobs from Americans as PROBLEMATIC!

New bill targets employers who hire illegal immigrants
Crime would carry penalty of state jail time.

That is the key to getting this Country back on track!!