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Tuesday, 25 July 2006 12:07 |
By DAVID FORBES
A proposal to tighten Asheville??s enforcement of illegal immigration laws and hasten the deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes stirred debate among City Council members on July 18.
While council agreed that steps needed to be taken to handle illegal immigrants who are also engaged in drug trafficking or violent crime, there was criticism of some aspects of Councilman Carl Mumpower??s proposal that would pursue businesses who hired illegal immigrants.
Councilman
Jan Davis, a businessman himself, said that the situation is more
complex than many believe ?? and that businesses, especially small ones,
often are unaware when they hire illegal immigrants.
?®I had an experience with this myself,?∆ Davis said. ?®We hired a young
man. He was hard-working, polite. He had been raised well. He spoke a
fair amount of English. He worked for me for several months. Then we
looked at his papers and, in the process, we found out he wasn??t legal.
That was hard. This is going beyond what is comfortable for me. Small
businesses especially can??t check the backgrounds that extensively.?∆
In reply, Mumpower said that he believed the proposal is intended to
target businesses ?®that intentionally target and try to hire illegal
immigrants.?∆
Critics of the proposal also asserted that immigrants have to deal with
a convoluted bureaucracy that often leaves their status uncertain or a
legal status almost impossible to attain.
?®It??s difficult sometimes,?∆ Vice Mayor Holly Jones said. ?®As a mother,
I adopted someone three and a half years ago and she still doesn??t have
citizenship. That??s the other end of the spectrum. There are people who
are trying to go through this legally, but have to face a bureaucratic
nightmare. The system is just a mess. If we??re going to look at this ??
there??s two sides to this coin.?∆
Earlier, Mumpower had laid out the plan as a way to help, at a local
level, remedy what he termed ?®a growing problem with illegal
immigration at the national, state and local levels. As action from the
state and federal governments has been slow and largely ineffective, we
must try to take action ourselves.?∆
He said that his
interest in developing such a plan had been spurred by a reverse- sting
operation he had attended with the police.
?®Ten or more of the people who were arrested for trafficking in drugs
did not speak English and could not provide proper identification,?∆
Mumpower said.
He added that what he termed myths around the issue of illegal
immigration confused the issue, asserting that illegal immigrants do
not contribute much to the economy, tax social services and drag down
wages.
The plan urges that the city transport illegal immigrants caught
committing crimes to the Immigration and Naturalization Services center
in Atlanta. It also encourages the city to find a way to prosecute or
punish businesses who hire illegal immigrants and pass a resolution
encouraging stricter immigration laws at a national level.
?®I??d like us to work with the city attorney??s office to see what we can
do on those issues,?∆ Mumpower said. ?®If we have laws, we should enforce
them and support them.?∆
In separate remarks, Asheville police Capt. Tim Splain said that under
the city??s current policy and state and federal laws, an arrested felon
who is also an illegal immigrant will serve his term in the United
States before being deported.
He mentioned that INS had come to pick up a felon once in the past
year, in a case involving a known drug trafficker who, during his
arrest, attempted to shoot a police officer.
?®It really doesn??t happen that much,?∆ Splain said. ?®Most of the time,
it??s arrests for minor driving offenses or traffic offenses ?? and we
find that they have no license.?∆
In such cases, Splain said, the illegal immigrants are charged by citation or taken to jail ?? just as anyone else would be.
In other cases, he noted, the police have found vans with 15 or more
illegal immigrants in them, but even in those cases, INS usually does
not become involved.
?®They won??t come out here for less than 25 people or so all in one place,?∆ Splain said.
Despite his criticisms, Davis did add that he had heard concerns about drug trafficking and crimes involving illegal immigrants.
?®What I have heard is that we do need stricter enforcement in that area
?? and I??m always supportive of giving the police more tools to tackle
this problem,?∆ Davis said. ?®Its important to recognize we can??t just go
out and do some things, but it??s also clear that this is a problem and
one we have to deal with.?∆
When asked by Councilwoman Robin Cape if an increased push to deport
illegal immigrants who commit crimes would help the police, Splain said
such a policy would have both positive and negative effects ??
especially if more minor crimes were considered cause for taking
someone to INS.
?®Obviously, there would be some benefit,?∆ Splain said. ?®But that would
have to be weighed with the cost to the relationship with the Latino
community. We have a good relationship right now and we??ve had some
very positive impact ?? and we??d try to balance that.?∆
Cape added that if council adopted the suggested resolution calling for
stricter enforcement of immigration laws, it should also simultaneously
adopt a resolution ?®calling for the expansion of legal immigration ?? so
that everyone who wants to immigrate here honestly and build a better
life can do it.?∆
In response, Mumpower said that by not taking a stricter role in
tackling illegal immigration, the city would ?®be saying to people who
want to come here that there??s no accountability. That includes if you
break any law. I??d even include traffic offenses. They should be held
accountable.?∆
However, Councilman Bryan Freeborn said that ?®I see two sides. One is
the need to give our police more tools to tackle dangerous criminals ??
I support that. But the other side is immigrants who are just coming
here to get a job and outside of not having proper documentation, like
the young man Jan (Davis) employed, aren??t committing any crime. That I
have a problem with. But I also have a problem with contractors who
hire illegal immigrants because they know they can exploit them.
?®That??s something I would like us to tackle, but I??m not sure we have
the resources or authority at this moment to do that,?∆ Freeborn said.
The proposal is not scheduled for any action by council in the near
future. Since the meeting was a work session, council discussed issues
of concern, but did not take formal action on them.
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