NEW JERSEY COUNTIES: BRIDGETON, WOODBURY, GLOUCESTER, CUMBERLAND
LAWYER: POLICE TRAFFIC STOPS BECOME IMMIGRATION CHECKS
By JOHN MARTINS Published: Sunday, October 28, 2007
BRIDGETON - For years, it was common practice in New Jersey for police officers not to ask drivers about their immigration status during routine traffic stops or during arrests for minor infractions.
One local lawyer, however, is saying that it seems some county police departments have recently abandoned that courtesy.
Valentine Brown, an immigration attorney with offices in Bridgeton and Woodbury, Gloucester County, said that for the past three weeks, she has received calls - about one per day - from undocumented residents claiming that loved ones have been arrested for lacking proper auto-related paperwork.
"Down in Cumberland County, what's happening is that they are all being taken into custody and referred to immigration authorities," Brown said. "They're being detained by local police for lack of documents."
The referrals, Brown said, come on the heels of a directive from state Attorney General Anne Milgram, who issued a set of rules Aug. 22 formalizing the procedures by which local law enforcement makes inquiries to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The new directive changes the previous practice of making federal immigration referrals only after a person has been convicted of a crime. Now, federal authorities are called when a suspected undocumented immigrant is arrested for a serious offense or driving under the influence.
The Press of Atlantic City was unable to verify Brown's claims last week. A lieutenant at the Bridgeton Police Department said officers don't keep track of that data and instead report it to the county prosecutor.
Cumberland County Prosecutor Ron Casella said that since his staff members don't personally make those ICE referrals, they have not been keeping it, either. The issue, he added, was addressed in a recent meeting with county police chiefs.
"We're going to have to have some centralized reporting," Casella said.
In response to claims that local police officers were making referrals for minor traffic stops, Casella said that while the guidelines are clear on what offenses are included, going beyond them isn't against the law.
"All that is going beyond the scope of the Attorney General's directive," he said. "I think what we have to be careful of here is that we're not doing any racial profiling."
Scott Weber, a field office director for ICE detention and removal in Newark, said Friday that his office welcomes all referrals to its 24-hour Law Enforcement Support Center.
"I'm not going to turn away any requests for information," he said. "If a state or local agency wants to refer a suspected alien to us, we're happy to oblige."
According to Weber, what happens after those referrals - which have jumped by more than half from fiscal years 2006 and 2007 - is largely dependent on factors such as an alien's criminal history, available detention space and whether those aliens are current fugitives.
If ICE is interested, he added, a detainer hold is placed for transfer into federal custody once the local court matter is resolved.
While Weber said he doesn't want to discourage the referrals, he insisted that ICE does not approve of local police departments engaging in immigration profiling.
"I don't think we've seen this, but I would not approve of a situation where any law-enforcement agency was deliberately picking up illegal aliens on minor charges and then dismissing those charges to turn them over to federal authorities," he said. "What we don't want to see is officers engaging in immigration enforcement under color of enforcing local laws."
To e-mail John Martins at The Press: JMartins@pressofac.com Links by inform.com
Governor Eliot Spitzer announced Saturday that New York State has reached a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to let illegal immigrants get drivers' licenses. NY1's Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.
Some may call it back-tracking, but Governor Eliot Spitzer may say he was just sticking to his plan to issue state driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The governor announced a deal with Department of Homeland Security Saturday to allow undocumented aliens to obtain licenses as long as the cards are not recognized by the federal government, creating a tiered system of documentation Spitzer originally rejected.
"I am very disappointed with Governor Spitzer because he succumbed to misguided opposition and anti-immigrant rhetoric,” said SJ Jung of the New York Immigration Coalition. “And he has traded a practical policy, which is good for all New Yorkers, for his own political escape."
The governor's original plan allowed immigrants – regardless of their status – to receive licenses by showing documents such as foreign passports or birth certificates. Under the terms of the agreement, New York state will enter into the REAL ID program, creating a system of dual licensing, something Spitzer said he was against.
Illegal aliens will be allowed to receive licenses, but they will not be able to use them to board planes or enter federal buildings. The state will offer a second level of licenses which could be used for those purposes.
The DMV will also offer a third license to western and northern New Yorkers, permitting them to cross the Canadian border without a passport, when a new law goes into effect next year.
Some fear the effects of the new deal on illegal immigrants.
“We are a bit concerned that this three-tier system will drive immigrants underground and that it will not facilitate them to get a license,” said Manhattan Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat. “And we're very concerned about that.”
State Senator Martin Golden has been critical of the plan all along, and says that while he's happy the governor made some changes to the original policy, he still believes it is majorly flawed.
“We believe it would be a security problem,” he said. “We believe that people could come here, blend in, and if they wanted to do a terrorist act, we'd be giving them the documentation to be able to use that documentation to do that terrorist act. That hasn't changed.”
Golden says there are also concerns about the reliability of new DMV technology the governor is counting on to verify documents.
The state Senate is planning a public hearing on that issue next Wednesday.
LAWMAKERS EYE RIO GRANDE VALLEY AS POSSIBLE ZERO-TOLERANCE ZONE FOR BORDER CROSSERS
Enforcement begins in Laredo next week, and Mr. Cuellar said he and others have already begun talking to authorities in the Rio Grande Valley about expanding soon, though he couldn't say how long it might take to get the program started there.
U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, said enforcement.....
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The one-time Catholic patron saint of travellers, Saint Christopher -- whose name means "Christ carrier" -- is not mentioned in the Bible. While there may have been a 3rd century Greek martyr named Christopher, the story told of him is now generally acknowledged to be a 12th century addendum to the Christian canon. Christopher is typically depicted as a tall, middle-aged, bearded man with a staff who wades across a river carrying the Christ child on his shoulders.
As the story goes, the extremely robust Christopher devoted his life to carrying people across an otherwise unfordable stream. One day a little child appeared before him and asked to be carried across. To Christopher's surprise, as he forded the river, the child steadily increased in weight until Christopher found his tiny burden so heavy that it was amost impossible to bear. When he asked the holy babe why he weighed so much, the child replied that he carried the world's sins upon his shoulders. As a reward for his service, Christopher's staff was miraculously transformed into a living tree, and Christopher himself became the Patron Saint of travellers.
Christopher was a widely popular saint, and was especially revered by mariners, ferrymen, and travellers. HIs feast day was July 25th, except in Greece, where it was celebrated on March 9th. In modern times a major center of his cult was in Italy and among Italian-Americans, a fact that did not stop the Vatican from de-canonizing him during a late 20th century purge of the list of saints. Saint Christopher medals and holy cards are more difficult to find now that his status has been downgraded to that of a mere legend, but they are still being manufactured and many Mexican and Italian Catholics still believe that his image is the best amulet to carry in one's wallet, wear on a necklace while on a journey, or hang from the rear view mirror attachment of one's car. The enamel and silver Saint Christopher medal shown here dates from the 1930s.
Photo by Milton Amador/Daily News staff E. Santos, 27, drives without a license around Framingham.
DRIVING WHILE ILLEGAL: IMMIGRANTS WORRY ABOUT BEING ARRESTED AND GETTING DEPORTED
By Liz Mineo, DAILY NEWS STAFF GHS Sun Aug 19, 2007, 12:48 AM EDT
On a recent afternoon E. Santos hopped behind the wheel of his SUV in the lot of his apartment building on Union Avenue, said a prayer for his safe return home, and drove off.
An illegal immigrant who drives without a valid driver's license, Santos puts his fate in God's hands every time he drives. He makes the sign of the cross before he starts the car's engine.
A Brazilian man who agreed to be identified by his first name initial and last name, Santos, 27, knows well the risks he takes. He can be stopped by the police and sent to court, but what he fears the most is that any encounter with the law can lead to deportation.
And yet he drives.
"I feel like a soldier who has been sent to war and is forced to kill people," said Santos, who drives with an expired Brazilian driver's license. "I don't have a choice."
Illegal immigrants cannot obtain a Social Security number, the main requirement to apply for a Massachusetts driver's license. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, between 150,000 to 250,000 illegal immigrants call Massachusetts home, and like Santos, many of them take the roads without a license.
In the three years Santos has lived in Framingham he has never been caught by the police, but he knows many fellow Brazilians who have. On any given day, the courts across MetroWest and the Milford area are filled with immigrant men and women who are sent before a judge for driving without a license. Many of them were stopped by the police after traffic violations.
Santos said he's extra careful when he's behind the wheel. When he drives, he obeys traffic rules and never speeds, but he knows he's at fault: he drives with an expired Brazilian driver's license.
But when it comes to his car, he makes sure everything is in order. The used SUV he bought for $4,000 is registered, has insurance and boasts a Massachusetts license plate and inspection sticker.
"It's one fewer problem if the police stop you," said Santos.
It's not uncommon among those who drive without a license to have insurance and their car registered, police said. "It seems they often meet requirements for the vehicle, but not for the operation," said Framingham Police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany. "More often than not, they have registered and insured vehicles."
Insurance companies accept foreign driver's licenses to insure a car, but only for one year. Restricted by that time line, many illegal immigrants have found away around it: every year, when the policy ends, they buy fake foreign driver's licenses with false names to secure insurance for their cars.
Or they resort to other immigrants who have driver's licenses and are willing to buy insurance for them and even register their cars for a "fee." In Waltham, home to many Central American immigrants, community leader Paula Mendoza has noticed the trend.
"They're being taken advantage of," Mendoza said. "There is a lot of corruption going on."
CLERKS ACCUSED OF PROFILING IN THREAT TO ARREST ILLEGAL SEEKING LICENSES
By Tom Precious - NEWS ALBANY BUREAU Updated: 10/26/07 8:31 AM
ALBANY — The Spitzer administration and immigration rights groups say the county clerks in Erie and Niagara counties will be engaging in inappropriate profiling with their plan to alert police when illegal immigrants seek to obtain driver’s licenses.
Critics said the clerks will be acting purely on a hunch and that people in the country legally could find themselves being inappropriately detained by police because they were wrongly suspected of being illegal immigrants.
“It’s an attack on undocumented immigrants. It’s not the job of county clerks to enforce the immigration laws. It’s a federal problem,” said Norman Eng, an immigration attorney with the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella group of 200 organizations.
The Spitzer administration said it was taking very seriously the threat by Erie County Clerk Kathleen C. Hochul and Niagara County Clerk Wayne Jagow to turn over to local or federal police agencies suspected illegal immigrants who come into their motor vehicle offices to get a driver’s license.
Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer is beginning a new policy in which illegal immigrants can obtain a license if they show a valid foreign passport and other identification. It ends a post-Sept. 11 policy requiring production of a Social Security number or a letter from the federal government stating that the person is not eligible for a Social Security number.
“Under this policy change, applicants will not be required to provide documents that demonstrate their immigration status in this country so there will be no evidence that a person is indeed an undocumented immigrant,” said Spitzer spokeswoman Jennifer Givner.
“Any clerk making a report to federal immigration officials regarding a license applicant’s immigration status will be reporting only their subjective suspicions regarding an individual’s status,” she cautioned.
The Buffalo News reported Thursday on a plan by Hochul and Jagow, with the cooperation of local law enforcement and the knowledge of federal homeland security officials, to alert police if someone suspected of being an illegal immigrant tries to get a driver’s license. Such individuals would be presenting a foreign passport, which will now be permitted under the Spitzer policy, as a form of identification.
Both clerks oppose the new Spitzer policy, but unlike 20 other county clerks statewide threatening to buck the governor, Hochul and Jagow said they have a legal obligation as agents of the state to carry it out. At the same time, however, they say they also take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and that they cannot ignore someone coming into one of their offices without the legal documentation to be in the country.
“I think it’s an idea in the minds of a lot of clerks who are still on the fence,” said Kathleen Marchione, the Saratoga County clerk who is president of a statewide association of county clerks. Most of the association’s members oppose the plan, but many say they will still implement it because they feel legally bound.
Spitzer has threatened legal action against clerks who ignore his mandate.
“This is another way of not having to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants,” Marchione, one of the 20 clerks bucking Spitzer, said of the plan by Hochul and Jagow.
But critics say there is a problem with the approach. An illegal immigrant seeking a license can do so with a valid foreign passport after checking a box on the application that says he is not eligible for a Social Security number. But Eng said there are many legal immigrants in the state — such as a college student on a visa or the spouse of a visiting college professor — who are not eligible for Social Security numbers. Such people could face undeserved run-ins with law enforcement if the clerks go ahead with their plans, he said.
“I think it’s outrageous that they are threatening to turn people over.”
VISA DATA TO BE INCLUDED ON DRIVER'S LICENSES AGAIN
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE Published: October 31, 2007
ALBANY, Oct. 30 — The state will revive the practice of putting visa expiration dates on foreign visitors’ driver’s licenses as part of a deal between the Spitzer administration and the Department of Homeland Security, an official said on Tuesday.
The official, David J. Swarts, the commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, discussed the change when he was asked about licenses for immigrants after a demonstration of new facial-recognition and document-scanning technology that his agency will adopt in the coming months to root out fraud in and duplication of driver’s licenses.
The change follows Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s announcement last weekend that he was revising his much-criticized plan that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain the same licenses as citizens. The state will now move to a new three-tier driver’s license system that complies with forthcoming federal security rules.
Immigrants’ supporters and some lawmakers were already critical of Mr. Spitzer’s deal with federal officials, saying that New York should offer only one kind of license to all residents, legal or not. The decision to reinstate the temporary-visitor stamp drew further anger.
“This is like giving away the store,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
The expiration dates were originally noted on drivers’ licenses under a policy instituted under former governor George E. Pataki in 2004, when the Department of Motor Vehicles began putting “temporary visitor” marks on licenses issued to individuals with temporary visas, along with the date that those visas expired. Immigrants’ advocates criticized the policy, saying that it encouraged discrimination even against legal immigrants and led to confusion about whether the licenses themselves were valid.
Mr. Spitzer ended the Pataki-era practice after his initial announcement on Sept. 21 that illegal immigrants would be allowed to obtain licenses beginning as early as December. At the time, the administration seemed to agree with the advocates, saying that the marking was pejorative and, in any case, would become superfluous when the new licensing policy went into effect later this year.
But under the deal struck last week with federal officials, New York will offer three different types of licenses, including one that will meet new federal security standards and will be available only to citizens and legal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants will be able to get a different license, which would not be valid for air travel or for entering federal buildings. But such licenses will not be issued until the broader licensing plan goes into effect at the end of 2008. A third type of license will be available to only United States citizens . who are New York State residents, which will be valid for crossing the Canadian border.
Because the whole program had been delayed, said Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for the governor, the administration had decided to delay the cancellation of the “temporary visitor” stamps.
“Given the announcement this weekend, and the idea to move toward three types of licenses, and delaying the implementation for one year, it’s in the best interest of safety to maintain the label,” she said.
Ms. Hong said the change would seriously inconvenience immigrants. She also said the stamps wrongly linked driving privileges with immigration status, something that Mr. Spitzer has rejected.
The stamps will not appear on standard licenses issued after 2008. Instead, those licenses, which will be available to citizens and illegal immigrants alike, will be marked “not valid for federal purposes.”
The temporary visitor stamp will still be used on licenses good for federal identification purposes that are issued to legal immigrants.
BY DAVE MARCUS AND CAROL EISENBERG | dave.marcus@newsday.com; carol.eisenberg@newsday.com October 30, 2007
Amid the furor over whether to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, many on Long Island say they're afraid to apply because they don't want to set themselves up for deportation.
At least some of those fears may be valid.
State and federal officials say law enforcement agencies will continue to have access to the license database, but in the future it will include not only name and address, but what type of license a driver has and the identification used to get it.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff held open the possibility on Saturday that immigration agents may use that information.
"I'm going to assume that law enforcement authorities, whether federal, state or local, will do their job and investigate what has to be investigated and use all the tools available to them," Chertoff said.
State officials discounted such concerns, however, saying no information about immigration status would be in the database. They noted that many legal residents will have the same license as those who are undocumented because that will be the cheapest among the three license options and available to everyone.
But the talk in the immigrant community was skeptical. As groups of Central American immigrants gathered in Huntington Station yesterday, they talked about the driver's licenses they desperately want but probably won't seek.
"What good is a license that identifies you as someone who is in the country illegally?" said Valentin, 47, a construction worker from Honduras who said he has been in the United States for six years. "I can't risk going in and applying for something like that."
Like others interviewed, he asked that his last name be withheld because he has sensed an increasingly hostile, anti-immigration climate on Long Island in the past year or so.
Valentin said he has been trying to save money for his four daughters back home, but he finds it increasingly difficult because he can't find a way to get to job sites.
"I don't trust this idea about having different classes of driver's licenses," said Miguel, 45, a landscaper and laborer from El Salvador. "What are they going to do with all the information they get about us?"
He and others who huddled in the late-afternoon sunlight on Depot Road and Fairground Avenue in Huntington Station said they are reluctant to apply for any license that could be used to identify them as illegal residents. For the past month, many said, they had guarded optimism about the governor's plan. But they abandoned hope this weekend when they heard about the latest twist.
"In the end, I don't think they'll even let us get licenses," said Ramon, 23, also from El Salvador.
Activists urged immigrants to say no to what amounts to a new ID card. Creating the card "will enable the government to look into the wallets and pocketbooks of New Yorkers," said Seth Muraskin, executive director of the Suffolk chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Guillermo Chacon of the Salvadoran American National Network, a Huntington resident, said he would advise illegal immigrants to wait and see.
"I'd prefer to have nothing and feel safer," he said. "It doesn't help when ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has been doing all these raids. How safe would you feel?"
IMMIGRATION LAW TO TAKE EFFECT PUSH TO POSTPONE HB 1804 FAILS
KOTV 6 Tulsa | 10/31/2007
TULSA — A new immigration enforcement law, arguably one of the nation’s toughest, is effective Thursday. An 11th hour request for an injunction to block the implementation of HB 1804 was denied by U.S. District Judge James Payne about 7 p.m. tonight after a hearing that happened just hours before the law’s Nov. 1 implementation.
“In light of the plaintiffs’ failure to introduce evidence in support of their motion, and in light of plaintiffs’ limited argument in support of their motion, the court cannot conclude the plaintiffs’ right to a preliminary injunction has been clearly and unequivocally established,” Judge Payne wrote.
Payne said the plaintiffs, which included the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Religious Leaders, did not prove the law would cause irrevocable harm, that the harm it would cause outweighed any injuries the injunction would have caused, or that the injunction was in the public’s interest.
“We appreciate the judge’s consideration of our argument,” said Attorney General spokesman Charlie Price. “Now we will set about the task of amending our motion to dismiss the whole complaint.”
Payne did not weigh in on whether the plaintiffs’ lawsuit would succeed once its merits are argued.
State seeks dismissal
The Attorney General’s defense team has filed a motion, which will be heard Tuesday, to dismiss the lawsuit entirely. That motion will be heard Tuesday.
“We are very disappointed in the judge’s decision,” said plaintiff attorney William Sanchez. “But now, we will concentrate on arguing the case.”
HB 1804 requires local and state law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone arrested for felonies and DUIs, and then coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security to have those individuals deported. It also requires state agencies to verify citizenship before dispersing public benefits or funds. In addition, it stops illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses.
The decision was issued about 7 p.m. — just hours before the law takes effect Thursday.
In a cramped Tulsa courtroom, immigrant opponents and advocates evenly divided the room, listening to the arguments that would clench the fates of thousands of illegal immigrants across the state.
“Congress was very, very clear when they wrote the Immigration Reform and Control Act. They did not want states to be involved in immigration,” said plaintiff attorney William Sanchez, of Miami Beach, Fla.
The plaintiffs pointed to three areas where HB 1804 entered into federal jurisdiction: job discrimination, criminalizing immigration violations, and depriving those arrested of their rights by requiring them to be mandatorily detained without a hearing.
But state lawyers argued those assertions were not true.
“Their argument is that Oklahoma is enacting immigration regulations, when in fact it is not,” said Dan Weitman, an assistant attorney general.
State lawyers pointed to several issues within the lawsuit, such as the plaintiffs’ standing, its ability to prove damages and the fact that the wrong defendants were named in the lawsuit. At one point, they even accused the plaintiff attorney’s of “bad faith” conduct.
What was the reaction?
Outside the Tulsa courtroom, immigrant advocates and opponents verbally sparred.
Members of the Tulsa Minutemen and Dan Howard, Outraged Patriots founder, argued against the injunction request.
“We will not be intimidated by illegal aliens invading our country and dictating to us how are government should be conducted,” Howard said. “I’ll be **** if I sit here patiently while Mexico moves here.”
“The front line for this immigration war is the Red River,” Howard added.
On the other side of the argument, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Religious Leaders accused the Tulsa mayor, police chief and Tulsa County Sheriff’ Department, as well as state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, of “ethnic cleansing.”
“We are afraid of your words. We are afraid of your actions,” said Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. “If this bill goes into effect midnight tonight, it will be open season on Latinos.”
One minuteman wearing a shirt fashioned to look like an American flag stood near Carmelite nuns of Hispanic descent.
The minority on Wednesday were people who didn’t feel passionately about the subject, from one side or the other.
Solomon Dionicio, a Tulsa bail bondsman, listened and soaked up the debate, shrugging his shoulders.
“I don’t feel about it either way, good or bad,” Dionicio said. “I just want to know. It’s history.”
Dionicio says the current immigrant system clearly is broken. About 30 percent of his business comes from Hispanic criminals, who go underground and change their names and jobs. They are the toughest to find.
On the other hand, he said, if the consequences weren’t so severe, maybe they would be more likely to step forward and pay their fines.
“I’ve chased undocumenteds for about five years now. Obviously, we do have a huge problem,” Dionicio said. “But we shouldn’t try to solve it Hitler style.”
At a Mexican restaurant in east Tulsa, Hispanic community members and advocates were visibly shocked when news spread that the injunction had been denied.
“This is horrible,” said Guillermo Rojas, a Tulsa businessman and member of the Governor’s Advisory Concil on Latin American and Hispanic Affairs. He is from Venezuela.
“But this has woken us up. We are many, the Hispanic people, and we will be heard,” Rojas said. “This has given us a reason to show our power and political influence.”
I-9 Form - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has indicated that the publication of a new I-9 form based on regulations published in the late 1990s is imminent.
We expect that by next week, the new form will we published. Then, in 2008, DHS plans to publish still another new I-9 regulation and another new I-9 form.
Oklahoma’s new immigration reform law took effect on Thursday, November 1. Opponents of immigration reform are protesting, claiming local law enforcement now cannot be trusted. Police and Sheriff's deputies say the fears are unfounded, and only illegal immigrants doing illegal things need worry about the law. The News On 6’s Emory Bryan reports there has been so much misinformation about what will happen, some of it out of fear, some just plain confusion, because the law has not been clarified by the courts.
Employment opportunity is the big draw for immigrants, who can usually earn more in America than their home country. The new immigration law requires employers verify a new employees citizenship. That employer verification takes effect in July. After that, government agencies and private firms doing government work will have to verify their employees have a valid Social Security number. Existing federal law already says employers cannot knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but the state law requires the extra step of verification.
The new law requires an immigration status check on people who are under arrest. Some Hispanics worry anytime they encounter law enforcement they are subject to an immigration check, but police say only people without a drivers license need to worry. During a traffic stop, drivers without a license are typically arrested, and illegal immigrants are no exception. Law enforcement authorities say they will not check immigration status for routine matters like reporting crimes or helping police with information.
Some have questioned if a citizen could be arrested for simply driving an illegal immigrant in their car. The new law makes it a state crime to knowingly transport illegal immigrants, but it was already against federal law. The law does not apply to public transportation or to situations where the status is unknown. Lawyers say the law is intended to stop human trafficking and is likely to be enforced only against people trying to hide illegals.
That brings up the point of housing for illegals, some of whom claim they are being evicted from apartments because of the new law. The new immigration law prohibits sheltering illegal immigrants, but landlords are bound by federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on national origin. Even lawyers studying the issue say it is unclear who would enforce this section of the law by checking records of landlords.
The police and Sheriff's Office both said Thursday that nothing changed overnight in the way they enforce the laws, but some Hispanics worry about round ups and roadblocks, which deputies and police say is not going to happen.
For complete coverage of Oklahoma's immigration reform law, click here.
Watch the video: Immigration Law Questions Answered
Oklahoma’s new immigration reform law took effect on Thursday, November 1. Opponents of immigration reform are protesting, claiming local law enforcement now cannot be trusted. Police and Sheriff's deputies say the fears are unfounded, and only illegal immigrants doing illegal things need worry about the law.
The News On 6’s Emory Bryan reports there has been so much misinformation about what will happen, some of it out of fear, some just plain confusion, because the law has not been clarified by the courts.
Employment opportunity is the big draw for immigrants, who can usually earn more in America than their home country. The new immigration law requires employers verify a new employees citizenship.
That employer verification takes effect in July. After that, government agencies and private firms doing government work will have to verify their employees have a valid Social Security number. Existing federal law already says employers cannot knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but the state law requires the extra step of verification.
The new law requires an immigration status check on people who are under arrest. Some Hispanics worry anytime they encounter law enforcement they are subject to an immigration check, but police say only people without a drivers license need to worry. During a traffic stop, drivers without a license are typically arrested, and illegal immigrants are no exception. Law enforcement authorities say they will not check immigration status for routine matters like reporting crimes or helping police with information.
Some have questioned if a citizen could be arrested for simply driving an illegal immigrant in their car. The new law makes it a state crime to knowingly transport illegal immigrants, but it was already against federal law. The law does not apply to public transportation or to situations where the status is unknown. Lawyers say the law is intended to stop human trafficking and is likely to be enforced only against people trying to hide illegals.
That brings up the point of housing for illegals, some of whom claim they are being evicted from apartments because of the new law. The new immigration law prohibits sheltering illegal immigrants, but landlords are bound by federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on national origin. Even lawyers studying the issue say it is unclear who would enforce this section of the law by checking records of landlords.
The police and Sheriff's Office both said Thursday that nothing changed overnight in the way they enforce the laws, but some Hispanics worry about round ups and roadblocks, which deputies and police say is not going to happen.
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