{"id":1939,"date":"2008-11-27T12:23:19","date_gmt":"2008-11-27T16:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=1939"},"modified":"2008-12-02T14:22:39","modified_gmt":"2008-12-02T18:22:39","slug":"maldef-aclu-local-race-baiters-hola-ken-waldrop-of-woodstock-ga-lobby-against-enforcement-of-american-immigration-law-in-cherokee-county-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/27\/maldef-aclu-local-race-baiters-hola-ken-waldrop-of-woodstock-ga-lobby-against-enforcement-of-american-immigration-law-in-cherokee-county-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"MALDEF, ACLU, local race-baiters ( Hola, Ken Waldrop of Woodstock, Ga.) lobby against enforcement of American immigration law in Cherokee County, Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cherokee Ledger News<\/em>
\n26 November, 2008<\/p>\n

Commissioners take comments on harboring ordinance<\/strong>
\nBy Carolyn Mathews<\/p>\n

A public hearing on Cherokee County\u2019s proposed \u201cHarboring Illegal Aliens\u201d ordinance brought out speakers who said legal action against those who are undocumented is long overdue, along with speakers who warned that the passage of such an ordinance would cost the county thousands of dollars in legal fees, while further depressing the business climate in the county. About 50 people attended, and more than 20 addressed commissioners with their concerns. <\/p>\n

Both Post 1 Commissioner Harry Johnston and Post 2 Commissioner Jim Hubbard said they were surprised the crowd was so small, considering the controversy surrounding the county\u2019s previous attempt at a similar ordinance, which is in litigation.<\/p>\n

(Left: Kris Kobach, second from left, a specialist in immigration law, explains the merits of the proposed ordinance to, from left, county attorney Angela Davis, Post 4 Commissioner Derek Good, Post 3 Commissioner Karen Bosch, and Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens.)<\/p>\n

Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said the Board of Commissioners would consider the input it got at the Nov. 17 public hearing and would allow time for continued public input over the next two months, not taking any action on the ordinance before the second county commission meeting in January.<\/p>\n

The proposed ordinance, which addresses both the housing and the employment of illegal aliens, is designed to take the place of an ordinance that outlawed only the renting of dwellings to those in the country illegally. That ordinance was scheduled to take effect in 2007, after the commission unanimously approved it at the end of 2006. It was never enforced, and currently is stayed under a consent agreement by a U.S. District Court judge after it was almost immediately challenged in court. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit against the county was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the law firms Troutman Sanders LLP and Hernan, Taylor & Lee. <\/p>\n

Attorneys for those who challenged the original ordinance say that if the BOC passes the newly proposed ordinance, in will be in violation of the current injunction.<\/p>\n

Alan Lubel, an attorney with Troutman Sanders, called the new proposal, \u201can attempt to pull an end-run on the judge\u2019s injunction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the commission passes this ordinance, the housing part will put them in violation of the court order,\u201d he said \u201cWe will proceed in the existing lawsuit to enforce the judge\u2019s order.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newly proposed ordinance includes a new section that imposes local penalties against some businesses that knowingly hire illegal workers and brings the county into compliance with recent state laws by requiring those applying for a business license in the county to check the status of all workers. <\/p>\n

It changes the method by which the housing of illegal immigrants would be determined, by having every renter over the age of 18 register with the county business license office and provide proof of citizenship.<\/p>\n

It is designed by University of Missouri law professor Kris Kobach, who has designed many similar ordinances on a national level, several still under litigation. Kobach spoke on the intention and design of the ordinance at the pubic hearing.<\/p>\n

Kobach noted that a new law regarding undocumented workers is being enforced in Arizona, after being upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. v. Napolitano. He said it has met with \u201cdramatic\u201d success. He said Cherokee\u2019s proposal, which would require county employers to check their employees\u2019 status using the federal E-Verify system, is similar to the Arizona program. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat of enforcement produced real results,\u201d he said of the Arizona law. \u201cWhen incentives are stronger to obey laws, they are obeyed. There\u2019s a significant amount of evidence that the illegal workforce self-deports, and that\u2019s what we want to achieve.\u201d <\/p>\n

Woodstock residents Billy and Kathy Inman both gave comments to the board. Billy Inman told commissioners the story of an automobile accident in June 2000 in which his 16-year-old son, Dustin, was killed and his wife, Kathy, was injured. Stopped at a traffic light in Ellijay, their vehicle was struck from behind, and they were sandwiched between the striking vehicle and a car in front of them. The driver behind them, Gonzalo Harrell-Gonzalez, who had a valid North Carolina driver\u2019s license, was allegedly in the country illegally. He fled from an Ellijay hospital after the accident and was never apprehended. Inman contends that if Harrell-Gonzalez were not in the country illegally, the accident would not have happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t bring my son back, but I don\u2019t want anyone else to go through the crap I\u2019ve been through,\u201d Inman said. \u201cIt\u2019s not right.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Fincher, of Canton, who was present at the meeting, said he wanted to know why commissioners were taking on a federal issue. \u201cSeventy-five percent of those in attendance were not Cherokee County residents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several of those who spoke to commissioners said the presence of Hispanics in their neighborhoods was bringing their property values down. Tricia Grindel, of Cherokee Forest Subdivision, called the Hispanic population a \u201cblight on the neighborhood,\u201d and worried that many of the men in the county without families \u201cwalk in packs in the streets late at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grindel said illegal immigrants were \u201ca slap in the face of everyone who immigrates using proper procedures.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ken Waldrop, of Woodstock, asked who paid the consulting bill for Kobach\u2019s advice, and wanted to know why the county was spending the money on the proposal while county revenues are down.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration laws will pass (on the federal level),\u201d he said. \u201cThere certainly does seem to be an element of racism here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, and a Cherokee resident, said she was concerned and dismayed at the proposed \u201cscattershot\u201d ordinance. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts the county at the risk of huge litigation costs,\u201d she said. She noted a New York Times article from Sept. 26, 2007, in which the mayor of Riverside, N.J., George Conrad, who had originally voted in favor of a similar ordinance, said, \u201cI don\u2019t think people knew there would be such an economic burden. A lot of people did not look three years out.\u201d That ordinance against hiring and renting to undocumented immigrants was rescinded, but Kobach claims it was never enforced. <\/p>\n

Seagraves said that the housing portion of the Cherokee proposed ordinance, which requires every adult renter in the county to obtain a $5 renter\u2019s license, would create a \u201cdatabase of renters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s downright un-American,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are adding to the burdens of families who are on the brink of financial disaster and are renting their homes because they can\u2019t sell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azadeh Shahshahani, an attorney with the ACLU, said that no restricted housing ordinance has ever stood up in court, and that the county would be facing a \u201cdifficult and costly legal battle for an ordinance the would fail to withstand constitutional scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Farmer\u2019s Branch, Texas, has spent more than $900,000 fighting a legal battle over a similar ordinance, and Escondido, Calif., has spent more than $1 million. Neither of those figures, she said, included attorneys\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n

Elise Shore, an attorney with MALDEF, agreed with Lubel, arguing that the current ordinance that is stayed and the new proposal both have the same purpose, and the same effect, to discourage landlords from renting to a certain group and to exclude a certain group from renting. She said passage of a new ordinance and the subsequent repeal of the one in litigation would be a violation of the injunction. <\/p>\n

D.A. King, an activist on the subject of those in the country without documentation, told commissioners he hopes the ordinance is passed and enforced and that \u201cillegal aliens migrate out of the community.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said his sister, who was born in Korea, is an immigrant and the term \u201cimmigrant\u201d applies to \u201cthose who are here lawfully and do not require amnesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s shameful to blur the line,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Meg Rogers, director of Cherokee Family Violence Center, asked commissioners if the proposed ordinance would affect their efforts to find housing for victims of domestic violence who were in the process of obtaining legal status, and worried that the ordinance might prohibit women in danger from calling them for fear of being turned into authorities.<\/p>\n

Kobach said that the enforcement of the ordinance, if passed, would be at the direction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

He said if a complaint is turned in on a business for employing undocumented workers, or a renter can\u2019t prove citizenship, the county business license office would contact the federal government, which he said is bound by law to provide information on citizenship status to state and local governments. Kobach said the county would be instructed to use either the federal E-Verify system for employment or the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program for benefit entitlement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HERE <\/a>– scroll down<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cherokee Ledger News 26 November, 2008 Commissioners take comments on harboring ordinance By Carolyn Mathews A public hearing on Cherokee County\u2019s proposed \u201cHarboring Illegal Aliens\u201d ordinance brought out speakers who said legal action against those who are undocumented is long overdue, along with speakers who warned that the passage of such an ordinance would cost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}