Posted on 10/02/2007 10:26:16 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
The federal government's inaction on immigration reform has spurred local ordinances and state legislation across the nation that target undocumented immigrants, advocates and researchers say.
"They're frustrated by inaction at the federal level," said Ken Ellinger, a political science professor at Dalton State College. "They're saying, 'Let's do something. Let's do anything.' "
But he said local immigration ordinances are an attempt by local governments to tackle an issue too big for them to manage.
"I think they're grasping at straws to get a handle on this whole immigration issue," Dr. Ellinger said.
Some cities and counties in Georgia and Tennessee -- both of which have rapidly expanding Hispanic populations -- have considered or passed immigration-related ordinances.
In Georgia, Whitfield County officials have considered overcrowding ordinances, and the city of Dalton recently adopted or adjusted laws to limit the number of residents in a single-family household -- proposals that critics say target Hispanics.
A state-wide law took effect in Georgia on July 1 requiring employers to verify the immigration status of new hires and authorities to check the immigration status of people arrested on felony or DUI charges.
In Tennessee, legislators this year passed five laws that dealt with immigration, ranging from penalizing employers for knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants to training highway patrol officers to perform certain immigration law enforcement functions.
Tennessee state Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said states are being forced to do the work of the federal government.
"We've always had illegal immigrants in this country. To say we are going to stop it 100 percent, that's fantasy land," he said. "But we (the federal government) can do a much better job than we are doing."
The nonpartisan Immigration Policy Center, a research institution dedicated to study and analysis of the contributions made to America by immigrants, released a report last week that said more than 100 cities and counties in 28 states have adopted ordinances related to immigration.
"Heightened frustration at the local level ... has led to a growing trend of proposing and adopting local ordinances, most of which have been found to be unconstitutional," said Jill Esbenshade, author of the report "Division and Dislocation: Regulating Immigration through Local Housing Ordinances."
"Ordinances that regulate immigration directly ... are extremely difficult to pass constitutional muster," she said.
Some lawmakers deem local and state immigration legislation unnecessary.
Chattanooga City Councilman Manny Rico said federal laws are sufficient to handle immigration.
"We already have enough (federal immigration) laws as it is; we just need to enforce them," he said. "I don't think we need laws that target specific groups such as Hispanics."
Cities tackle immigration
During the past year in Nashville, the City Council proposed at least 13 measures related to immigration or immigrants, according to the city's Web site.
On Feb. 8, the Nashville City Council adopted an ordinance declaring English the official language of the city, requiring government communications to be in English only "with certain exceptions."
Mayor Bill Purcell vetoed the bill five days later, calling it unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press.
While some local ordinances specifically address immigration, many deal with housing issues. Hispanic advocates say those proposals disproportionately affect immigrants.
In 2005, Chattanooga approved an ordinance prohibiting people from keeping livestock near homes. The move, City Council members said at the time, was in response to a growth in Hispanic residents who were accustomed to keeping livestock in their yards.
In Georgia last month, a Gwinnett County commissioner proposed using square footage to control the number of residents in a household. Commissioner Bert Nasuti, who proposed the ordinance, said the measure is not intended to target Hispanic immigrants.
"I don't care if they came from Venus. It's not a racial issue," he said. "If it means that one group gets hurt more than the other, then maybe ... that group needs to play by the rules."
Like Whitfield, Forsyth County officials have considered overcrowding ordinances. Cobb County adopted a law similar to Dalton's limit on the number of residents in a single-family household.
Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said these kinds of housing ordinances unfairly impact immigrants, who sometimes live in closer quarters than U.S.-born residents.
"These ordinances, the issues of overcrowding, weren't being talked about before. What's changed?" Mr. Gonzalez has said. "What's changed is the federal government hasn't settled the immigration issue."
State action
On the state level, immigration legislation mostly is focused on employment, health, identification and driver's licenses, law enforcement, public benefits and human trafficking, according to the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures.
As of July 2, 2007, about 1,400 pieces of legislation related to immigrants and immigration had been introduced among the 50 state legislatures -- two and-a-half times more immigration-related bills than in 2006, the conference reported.
Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, who voted for Georgia's new immigration law, has said that the state has a responsibility to help create and enforce immigration rules.
But some immigrant advocates say the law has instilled fear in Hispanic communities.
America Gruner, president of the Coalition of Latino Leaders in Dalton, has said the law created confusion among area immigrants.
"Some people think they can be stopped any time and they can be deported," she said.
E-mail Perla Trevizo at ptrevizo@timesfreepress.com
E-mail Erin Fuchs at efuchs@timesfreepress.com
Ahhhhhh 40 unrelated illegal aliens in the one tiny domicile is waaaaaaaaaaay too many LOL
PING
I have seen the flophouses in Gainesville GA and other places in GA. You can spot them by the 20 vehicles parked in the yard of a single-family house.
Evening,Ms. Nana.
Interesting that all my life my parents had to be responsive to local zoning and occupation laws, had to be obedient to building codes, etc. Now all of a sudden its all about racism.
You can and should have only so many cars as to the number of spaces provided for your home, no parking on lawns, etc. Only so many pets were permitted per house, your curb and sidewalk were your financial responsibility to replace when they became broken etc and the town ordered those who didn’t take care of it to replace them.
You needed a special permit to park on the street, and it was only good for 24 hours.
None of this is new, at least in the northeast. Suddenly we are all racists.
As for these rules not passing constitutional muster, horse hockey. What we cannot get passed is liberal judges. Local ordinances have always been into such things as they should be.
saving
What's changed? We now have you and your amigos creating issues that we wish to solve. I wish everyone would stop tip toeing around these asshats. Yes, the ordinances are aimed at Hispanics because they are the problem. Deal with it. Vamos.
“Tennessee state Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said states are being forced to do the work of the federal government.”
“We’ve always had illegal immigrants in this country. To say we are going to stop it 100 percent, that’s fantasy land,” he said. “But we (the federal government) can do a much better job than we are doing.”
I wish they would quit giving us that song and dance routine. They sure as heck can do something about it. They won’t. So get out of the states’ way because we are.
This item caught my attention: One state announced the cost to taxpayers of maintaining these people on welfare-—a real eye-opener. Every state should do this.
There is also a sense that “diversity” and “tolerance” has run amok, that Americans are supposed to rollover, play dead, and “tolerate” everything rammed down our throats, or risk being branded “racists,” or “xenophobic.”
Illegals’ thought police are everywhere-—they go ballistic if we DARE to speakout.
We should not have to “tolerate” hearing a foreign languages spoken in America, or “tolerate” criminals with machetes roaming our streets. Nor should we tolerate a lower standard of living so that these invaders can suckup gov’t benefits.
Remember next time you buy a car: the Ford Foundation helped these people setup legal front organizations that are suing us left and right. Between 2001 and 2003, the Ford Foundation gave La Raza about $9.83 million, with one grant alone totaling $8.05 million. The FF may also have facilitated Federal and state funding of illegals attack groups.
In Bradley County, the local ordinance allows for only FOUR unrelated people living in the one domicile...
The environmental people will send us a letter ordering the removal of any extra dead cars, garbage old rusted stuff etc...
A local man (AKA American)has welding etc machinery out on his farm...waaaaaaaaay out in the country..they flogged the subject again in the county commisioners meeting the other night...he told them that he used the stuff in his job...he is facing a heavy fine ...
But if he was an illegal alien? the ACLU and La Raza would be down here..You are right...It would be RACISM in that case.....
ping
11/2008 won’t come soon enough for me!
“”Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said these kinds of housing ordinances unfairly impact immigrants, “
ILLEGALS!!
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