Articles in this document:

· Leaders say Neb. city's plan could hurt business

· San Francisco's sanctuary nightmare

Leaders say Neb. city's plan could hurt business

By JEAN ORTIZ

Associated Press Writer

The Hays Daily News Online - Hays, KS

7-28-2008

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- If Fremont city leaders approve a new law aimed at illegal immigrants, the new hiring regulations could hurt small businesses and threaten development efforts, business leaders say.

Directors of two community business groups say they don't condone illegal activity, but they say they believe the additional regulations would hurt more than help.

The hiring provisions, added when the ordinance was revised last week, would require all businesses in city limits to use a federal Internet-based employment verification system. Businesses that don't comply could lose their licenses, permits or contracts with the city.

Large employers in the area, including Fremont Beef and Hormel, are already using the system, though both plants are outside city limits and would not be subject to the new rules.

Hormel also extended an invitation to the City Council to tour its plant.

The electronic system can take the guesswork out of the hiring process, but is not error-proof, said spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

If approved, the new law likely would not result in business closures but could create difficulties especially for small businesses that don't use the Internet, said Allan Hale, executive director of the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce.

The City Council will meet Tuesday to consider the proposed ordinance, which also prohibits renting to and harboring illegal immigrants. A final vote is set for Aug. 26.

During a hearing earlier this month, City Attorney Dean Skokan cautioned against adding hiring provisions to the ordinance. A 1997 attorney general opinion determined the state did not have authority over that, and Skokan said that meant the city had no such authority either.

When asked Monday where those concerns stood, Skokan declined to comment.

The proposal has stirred strong opinions in this community of 25,000 -- including that of supporters who believe the law is needed to make up for what they see as lax enforcement by federal officials.

Opponents say the law could divide the community and make the city vulnerable to costly legal challenges.

Fremont has not had any sizable federal investigations of its work force in the last several years, said Tim Counts, a spokesman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Besides potentially hampering small business, the proposal could affect business development and efforts to recruit documented workers, said Kevin Wilkins, executive director of the Greater Fremont Development Council.

Landlords have justifiable concern as well, said Wilkins, who believes the proposed regulations for the rental housing market may pose even greater problems.

The proposal calls for renters to secure $5 occupancy licenses to prove their legal status.

Renters without licenses or landlords renting to people without occupancy licenses would each be subject to a fine of $100.

hdnews.net

EDITORIAL: San Francisco's sanctuary nightmare

The Washington Times

Monday, July 28, 2008

There's an old saying that "a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality." Over the past month that kind of political re-thinking may have started in California, where citizens who routinely vote for liberal, pro-open-borders ideologues at the federal, state and local levels have come face to face with the real-world consequences of such decisions:

Specifically, they are learning about San Francisco's policy of shielding illegal-alien juvenile thugs from deportation, which may have resulted in a triple murder that occurred last month in the city. In some ways, the furor over San Francisco's sanctuary policies is reminiscent of the wave of opposition that forced then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to kill his own proposal to give driver's licenses to illegals last fall.

Today, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome - a liberal Democrat who bragged about the city's sanctuary policies until just a few months ago - says he has rescinded them. But it may be too late to salvage Mr. Newsome's expected run for governor in 2010.

In the Bay Area, the case that sparked the outrage was the June 22 killing of San Francisco resident Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, who were murdered on their way home from a family picnic. Police say Tony Bologna made a fatal mistake: temporarily blocking a car driven by Edwin Ramos, a 21-year-old illegal alien and a member of MS-13, a Salvadoran criminal gang, from making a left turn. Ramos allegedly pulled a gun and shot Tony, Matthew and Michael Bologna to death. He plead not guilty last week to three counts of first-degree murder in the case.

The Bologna murders have sparked widespread outrage as information has pored out about San Francisco's sanctuary policies and how Ramos, despite his illegal status and numerous run-ins with the law prior to the slayings, was never deported. Ramos came to the United States in 2000, and had his first run-in with San Francisco police on Oct. 22, 2003, at age 17. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ramos and fellow gang members boarded a bus and severely beat a man they suspected was a member of a rival gang. Ramos was convicted in juvenile court and put in a shelter. Although he could have been referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation, the city Juvenile Probation Department's policy for dealing with young hoodlums specified that "probation officers shall not discriminate in any fashion against minors based on their immigration status." It is unclear whether the department tried to find out whether Ramos was legally in the United States, but if it did, it failed to pass that information along to the federal government.

On April 2, 2004, Ramos was released to his mother's custody while on probation. Four days later, he attempted to mug a pregnant woman. Ramos was convicted as a juvenile of attempted robbery and sent to a city-run camp for juvenile offenders. Sometime after he turned 18, federal authorities learned that Ramos was not a legal U.S. resident when he applied for legal residency and was rejected. Around that time, he married a U.S. citizen and applied again to immigration officials to remain in the United States - this time as a permanent resident. Ramos' request was pending when the Bolognas were shot to death last month.

As the illegal alien tried to gain legal status, he continued getting arrested. On March 30, 2008, police stopped Ramos' car in San Francisco's notoriously violent Tenderloin district. A passenger in the vehicle attempted to dispose of a handgun. (Police later learned that the gun had been used in a double murder on March 29.) But city prosecutors refused to file charges against Ramos, saying that they could not prove that he knew his passenger was carrying the gun. So, three days after his arrest, Ramos was released from jail. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency did not ask about Ramos' immigration status until after he was released.

But the crux of the problem has long been San Francisco's routine flouting of federal immigration law. Several years ago, city juvenile probation officials, pointing to San Francisco's sanctuary status, came up with an innovative new way to deal with illegal-alien juveniles from Honduras who were caught dealing crack cocaine: Protect them from possible federal deportation by having San Francisco taxpayers fund flights back to Honduras to "reunite" the hoodlums with their families back home. Unfortunately, city police say, the policy has had the unfortunate result of encouraging adult criminals, who can be reported to federal authorities if they commit a crime, to pretend to be juveniles. "Some of them have been arrested four or five times," Capt. Tim Hettrich, who headed the police department's narcotics unit, told the Chronicle. Capt. Hettrich scoffed at the strategy of returning the criminals to Honduras, saying that they "probably get the round trip, and the next day, they will be right back here."

Last month, San Francisco officials stopped flying the "juvenile" offenders to their native countries and decided to send eight of them to group homes. All eight promptly escaped. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, has written a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey urging that, in view of San Francisco's systematic refusal to comply with federal immigration law, the Justice Department rather than local authorities prosecute Ramos. If this happens, San Franciscans will have city officials to thank for the embarrassment.

washingtontimes.com