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The Daily News
7/31/07Georgia A Georgia woman, Emelina Ramirez, called the police to report being punched and kicked in the stomach by her roommates. She is now in an Alabama jail cell awaiting deportation. This case illustrates how there is a growing mistrust of the police among illegal immigrants. Many illegal immigrants are being targeted by criminals because the illegals get paid in cash and are afraid to call the police for help. This month police officers checked the immigration status of a woman driving with expired tags. She too is awaiting deportation. Illegal immigrants are also afraid to come forward as witnesses in criminal cases. The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act took effect on July 1. The law requires state or local police to check the immigration status of anyone arrested for a felony or driving under the influence. It also will permit Georgia to train state police officers with Homeland Security so that they can enforce immigration law as they carry out their duties.Redding.Com
Texas The Dallas Morning News Reports that the Hazelton verdict, which declared that Hazelton does not have the authority to penalize landlords who rent to illegal aliens or to penalize businesses that hire them, may ultimately lead to a similar ruling on Farmers Branch’s ordinance which penalizes landlords who rent to illegal aliens. A federal judge’s ruling in Pennsylvania may call into question a host of state and local laws which attempt to regulate illegal immigration. The Dallas Morning News
The Daily News
7/27/07Pennsylvania U.S. District Judge James Munley struck down Hazleton’s local law intended to crack down on illegal immigrants. The judge found that the law which would have penalized those who knowingly hired illegal aliens or those who rented to them to be patently unconstitutional. “Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said the city would likely appeal the decision. This decision will open the door for legal challenges to similar ordinances all over the country. Reuters
Georgia Cobb County passed an ordinance designed to help control illegal immigration which restricts how many people can live in a home if they are not family. The ordinance requires that there must be 390 square feet of living space for each adult. A limit has also been imposed on the number of vehicles that can be parked at a person’s house if they are visible from the street. The number of vehicles that are parked long-term cannot exceed the number of occupants legally permitted to reside in the house.The Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Daily News
7/25/07Arizona Michael Mayhew, who works for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has predicted that the Basic Pilot Program that checks to make sure that an employee’s name and social security number match will not be overwhelmed on January 1,2008, when an Arizona law will require all businesses to use Pilot. Mr. Mayhew said that over 19,000 businesses used Pilot making 2 million inquiries during the last fical year. The federal government had been planning to dramatically expand the program in anticipation of the Senate passing its immigration reform bill, therefore the system should be able to cope with Arizona’s new immigration law. Mr. Mayhew addressed what some claim to be an error rate of 8% when using Basic Pilot. He claimed that this rate is grossly overstated. The errors include any inquiry where there is not a match on the first attempt. Many of the issues, Mayhew contends, are easily correctible such as a no match because of a name change due to marriage. Ineligble workers whose name and social security number don’t match are also counted as errors. Mr. Mayhew said that the error rate is not zero percent, but it is very small. Arizona’s strict new immigration law, which goes into effect in January 2008, mandates that a business lose it license for 10 days for knowingly hiring an illegal alien. If a second offense is committed within 3 years, the business may permanently lose its licesne. The Arizona Star
Georgia Cobb County is considering passing a law to outlaw people from soliciting day labor, which some argue is a violation of free speech. The county also is contemplating passing an ordinance limiting the number of people who can occupy a house. The ordinance could require 390 square feet of living space for each occupant and for each car parked overnight. The Atlanta Journal Constitution