Posted on 08/19/2010 11:10:06 AM PDT by abigail2
Murrieta to consider E-Verify rule
11:36 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 17, 2010
By JOHN F. HILL
The Press-Enterprise
Immigration fight in Murrieta
Rally calls on council to mandate E-Verify, instead of merely "encourage" its use.
Published: 7/17/2010 08:18 PM
The Murrieta City Council unanimously voted late Tuesday to have the city attorney draft an ordinance mandating the use of E-Verify by all city businesses.
A few dozen anti-illegal immigration activists, still present for the 10 p.m. vote, clapped and cheered after the decision. The group had urged the council to mandate the use of the federal program that determines a potential employee's work status.
City attorney Leslie Devaney said the council could have an ordinance to consider by October.
Murrieta is the latest southwest Riverside County city to take up illegal immigration. The council initially was considering a resolution that urged, but did not require, employers to use the system, which checks employment information against government databases. A group of anti-immigration activists urged the council to pass a law mandating use of E-Verify.
Some called the resolution a "cop-out" during a rally before the meeting.
Seventeen people spoke during the public comment session -- all urging the council to mandate E-Verify.
"Get it passed and get these illegals out of here," said Faye Wons.
Eleanor Harvison, 16, of Murrieta, said she is about to enter the work force and that the council should pass a tough law.
"People that are legal should work. People that are illegal shouldn't work. They should work in their own country," Harvison said.
About 25 protesters, many of whom said they were affiliated with local tea party groups, marched outside City Hall before the meeting, chanting: "What do we want? E-Verify!" and "USA, USA!" Their signs read "Adopt Mexico's immigration policies," and "E-Verify makes the job hunt fair again!"
Council members questioned staff about how the city would enforce a mandate, what it could cost and whether the city could be sued if it passed one.
Councilman Rick Gibbs said he felt the city could pass a mandate, and should because "there is no immigration system in this country."
Murrieta uses E-Verify to check the status of potential city employees.
Arizona's law mandating E-Verify has been challenged in court and will be taken up by the Supreme Court in its next session. In a report prepared for the Murrieta meeting, Senior Management Analyst Brian Ambrose recommended the city pass the resolution while waiting for a court ruling.
The Inland Empire Rapid Response Network, an immigrants' rights group, said in a statement before the meeting that conservative groups pushing Murrieta and other governments to pass E-Verify laws are letting federal officials off the hook for fixing immigration problems.
"Instead, these groups are directing their anger against local immigrant families who are already suffering from our broken immigration system, with far-fetched claims and anti-immigrant tirades that have little to do with E-Verify," the statement said.
Temecula, Lake Elsinore and Menifee have passed E-Verify laws. Other southwest Riverside County cities are considering them.
Reach John F. Hill at 951-375-3738 or johnhill@PE.com
“Riverside is not going to do it unless they replace some of those council people, and especially the mayor. We need to know how they all stand on the issue now.”
I’d say we already know how they stand on the issue as we already know they all have to be replaced.
Different but still at the local level.
Here in Michigan, an Open Carry group got a local art fair to go along with their demands of allowing to Open Carry. The local artsy fartsy types are going nuts. The E-check is more sober, but the link is these things are happening at the local level. The Open Carry guys I must admit is a bit of shadenfruede, for years the liberals have been in our face, now we are saying deal with us...
I haven’t been there since 1938...it has probably changed a little bit. ;)
The rest of the state is just afraid and filled with learned helplessness.
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