Cherokee Tribune

Hardening illegal immigration laws
Published: 10/23/2008

By Ashley Fuller
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer

Cherokee County leaders next month will introduce legislation to again try and crackdown on illegal immigration.

The county Board of Commissioners has called for a public hearing to be conducted at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Cherokee County Administration Building.

The hearing will be to amend the county code to prohibit property owners from knowingly harboring illegal aliens and to suspend the business license of any company that knowingly hires illegal aliens.

The new ordinance, which still is being drafted, both incorporates and expands upon a measure introduced by the board nearly two years ago that has been stalled every since by litigation.

“The situation isn’t gone. It still needs to be addressed,” Commissioner Karen Bosch, who proposed the original ordinance, said of illegal immigration problems in the county.

In December of 2006, the board voted to make it illegal to rent or lease property to illegal immigrants. A lawsuit was filed against the county by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the law firms Troutman Sanders LLP and Hernan, Taylor & Lee. An injunction was placed on the county by a U.S. District Court judge to prevent enforcement, and the lawsuit was stayed and is still pending.

The new measure includes the provisions about harboring illegals and expands it to cover employment. Angie Davis, attorney for the county government, said the county has been watching similar lawsuits play out in other states.

“We have seen ordinances similar to the one put forth meet with great success in the courts,” she said.

One example of a favorable ruling came earlier this year in Arizona when a U.S. District Court Judge in Phoenix upheld a law that gave the state the authority to seek the suspension and revocation of business licenses of employers that knowingly hire unauthorized workers.

If the new ordinance passes, Davis said the county would seek to have the lawsuit related to the 2006 proposal dismissed.

Jamie Hernan of Hernan, Taylor & Lee said he would withhold comment until seeing the new ordinance.

Scheduled to appear at the public hearing is Kris Kobach, a nationally known expert on immigration law who the board has hired to help its cause.

An attorney and chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach assisted in the Arizona case and served as lead lawyer on the successful defense of a Valley Park, Mo. ordinance sanctioning employers who hire illegal immigrants.

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