Cherokee Tribune

‘Better safe than sorry’

Published: 01/22/2009

By Ashley Fuller

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners has decided to start accepting affidavits affirming citizenship for business license applicants.

County Manager Jerry Cooper is developing an addition to the business license application and could start accepting within a couple of weeks.

Commissioner Derek Good said Tuesday night that talks among the board and its attorney led to the decision.

He said the board still agrees with the Association County Commissions of Georgia’s opinion that a business license was not a public benefit as defined in the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

The act requires local governments that administer public benefits to collect an affidavit from applicants affirming their citizenship or lawful alien status and use the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database to verify the immigration status of alien applicants.

“It is probably better to be safe than sorry,” he said. “It is better to be proactive. It has been our intention to be fully compliant.”

Cooper said he already has met with officials from Cobb County’s government, which last year began checking the immigration status of business license applicants.

The county has filed 17 memorandums of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security to request the use of the SAVE database to verify different public benefits. Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said the time lapse between starting to accept affidavits and receiving final approval to use the database should not be long.

“This shows more than good faith,” Ahrens said regarding the possibility the state government would withhold funds from local governments it determined to not be in compliance with the law.

Canton City Manager Rob Logan said the city likely would start requesting the affidavits as well in light of the county’s action.

“I need to look at it to be sure,” he said, adding that if the county is going to start, “It is no different with the city.”

Mayor Donnie Henriques of Woodstock said the City Council has not talked about the issue, but generally follows the county’s actions.

State Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), who authored the law, said he was pleased with the county commissioners’ decision.

“I appreciate the commissioners’ work on this important issue. It really makes no sense for any county to grant a business license to a person unlawfully present in the United States. The effort by the Cherokee commissioners will assist in the effort to discourage illegal immigration,” he said.

The county commissioners also currently are considering an ordinance that would require anyone who wants to rent or lease property to submit an occupancy license application to the county, which would include a declaration that the applicant is a lawful resident.

The ordinance also would make it illegal in the county to hire illegal aliens.

Comment on this Story on Cherokee Tribune site and read original news report HERE