{"id":2216,"date":"2009-04-18T11:36:13","date_gmt":"2009-04-18T15:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2009-04-18T11:41:47","modified_gmt":"2009-04-18T15:41:47","slug":"want-business-license-in-cherokee-swear-youre-legalas-the-2006-state-law-requires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2009\/04\/18\/want-business-license-in-cherokee-swear-youre-legalas-the-2006-state-law-requires\/","title":{"rendered":"AJC: Want business license in Cherokee? Swear you’re legal…as the 2006 state law requires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want business license in Cherokee? Swear you’re legal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Atlanta Journal Constitution <\/em><\/p>\n

Cherokee County has become the latest metro county to keep business licenses limited to legal residents.<\/p>\n

Last Monday, the county began requiring applicants for business licenses and renewals to sign an affidavit, saying they are in the U.S. legally.<\/p>\n

At least two other jurisdictions \u2014 Cobb and Gwinnett \u2014 have imposed similar requirements based on the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. That law, which was passed by the state Legislature in 2006, prohibits taxpayer funds from going to illegal workers.<\/p>\n

Buzz Ahrens, chairman of the Cherokee County Commission, said the county didn\u2019t have much option.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state Legislature said it would cut off all funding if we didn\u2019t do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Elise Shore, regional counsel with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said not all legal experts agree that the law was meant to apply to business licenses.<\/p>\n

Like the state law, \u201cthis is trying to send a message to the immigrant community that they\u2019re not welcome,\u201d Shore said.<\/p>\n

She said the mandate of the affidavit also creates<\/p>\n

\u201ca more regulatory environment, a more difficult environment for businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.A. King, a Marietta opponent of illegal immigration, applauded Cherokee\u2019s decision to \u201cpartially\u201d comply with the 2006 law by requiring the affidavit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they will do all that is necessary to gain full compliance,\u201d said King, who sued Cobb County in 2008 before the county started requiring business license applicants to show they are legal residents.<\/p>\n

Cherokee County issues about 7,500 business licenses each year. But only a handful of businesspeople made application last week and had to sign the affidavit, which requires them to verify that they are a U.S. citizen, legal permanent resident 18 or older, a qualified alien or non-immigrant under the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act.<\/p>\n

Ana Silbernagel, who supervises the issuance of those licenses, said no one raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t had any kind of response either way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Late last year, Cherokee commissioners reopened the local illegal immigration debate with a draft ordinance that would make renters prove they\u2019re here legally and threatened the business licenses of companies with undocumented workers.<\/p>\n

Opponents and supporters packed one public hearing, but, since then, commissioners have taken no action and have said the ordinance remains \u201cunder review.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Want business license in Cherokee? Swear you’re legal Atlanta Journal Constitution Cherokee County has become the latest metro county to keep business licenses limited to legal residents. Last Monday, the county began requiring applicants for business licenses and renewals to sign an affidavit, saying they are in the U.S. legally. At least two other jurisdictions […]<\/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\/2216"}],"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=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}