Bills pending in Ohio include one, sponsored by Combs, which requires employers to check a prospective hire’s legal status or risk noncompliance with tax law. Others would allow local law enforcement more ability to assist federal immigration officials.
“We have illegals who are taking jobs away from Americans in this bad economy; they are scamming the welfare system and bringing drugs and the violence that goes with it into this country,” Jones said. “We have to be able to stop it.”
All of the proposals in Columbus fall short of a controversial Arizona bill signed into law Friday, which makes it a crime under state law to be in the U.S. illegally.
The measure — set to take effect in late July or early August — directs state and local police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.
Combs said the Arizona law works for Arizona. But before Ohio follows suit — which some lawmakers are considering — it should work on measures already in the making.
“We don’t need an Arizona bill, that’s not what we’re after,” Combs said. “We do need some checks and balances in Ohio. Lets get those done and then we’ll have some success.”
Others worry, though, about the role of racism and racial profiling in immigration measures that allow cops to stop people in the street and demand they show proof of citizenship.
“There’s no logical way, no lawful way, to determine reasonable suspicion of immigration law violation,” said Cleveland attorney David Leopold, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“It opens the door effectively to a mandate to racially profile,” said Leopold. “What Arizona has essentially done is tantamount to a police state creation.”
Legal immigrants fear tough laws lead to harassment
Some local leaders are calling for Ohio to enact legislation similar to a new Arizona law that makes it a state offense to be in the country illegally.
But some minority residents say they already feel singled out by local attitudes on immigration and Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones’ tough stance on the issue.
“The Hispanic community could contribute so much to this county and invest so much in it and they are stopped from doing that because of the way they are treated,” said Jose Salas, pastor of Iglesia de Dios church in Middletown.
“I have rarely experienced this form of racism,” said Salas, an American citizen born in Puerto Rico.
But it’s not about racism, said Jones and state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton. In a letter sent Tuesday, April 27, to the governor and other state leaders asking for the passage of tougher immigration laws, they outlined their argument.
“The citizens of Ohio and the United States need their elected officials to make an effective stand against the illegal immigrant issue that is destroying our employment opportunities,” they wrote. “Providing funds to the illegal immigrants is draining the public assistance and social agency coffers as well.”
“The morale of your constituents is in a downward spiral.”
They urged action on several bills pending in the General Assembly.
One, proposed by Combs, would require public and private employers to check the Social Security numbers of new hires against the free E-Verify system to make sure they’re in the country legally.
Another bill that passed the Republican-controlled Senate and is stuck in the Democrat-dominated House was proposed by state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester Twp. That bill would allow local law enforcement across the state to assist federal officials in enforcing immigration laws.
'Why not have us all working together?’
Butler County is one of few in the state that already partners with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to aid in immigration enforcement. But that only allows deputies to help when ICE requests it. It does not give them the authority to question or detain people about their immigration status — a federal, civil matter — as the Arizona law does.
Jones recently settled a lawsuit with an illegal immigrant who claimed deputies overstepped their bounds by detaining him at a construction site in 2007, costing the county $100,000.
Giving local law enforcement officers the authority, with proper training, to ask for proper documentation from someone who already is stopped for a violation is an important tool, Jones said.
“This is nothing new. It is already federal law, but now only federal agents have the power,” Jones said.
'It’s just plain wrong’
That partnership already has its critics. They say an Arizona-like expansion — which is currently being challenged in federal court, and being considered in the Ohio General Assembly — would be a mistake.
“Legislation which effectively gives law enforcement the license to stop somebody and question them because of the color of their skin, or because of the way they dress or because they may speak with an accent is unconstitutional,” said Cleveland attorney David Leopold, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“And beyond unconstitutional, it’s just plain wrong,” he added. “It will impact every resident in the state of Ohio in a negative way.”
“We know that undocumented immigrants under-report crime anyway, we know they under-report domestic abuse,” said Shelley Jarrett Bromberg, associate professor of Latin American studies at Miami University.
“Coming forward as a victim of crime, you can be charged (in Arizona) with a misdemeanor of being in the state without documentation, so they’re not going to do it,” she said.
Middletown residents of Hispanic descent say they worry the legislation would cause officials to harass them and others who are here legally.
Myrnaeliz Berrios, 35, of Middletown who is Puerto Rican and has lived in the area for six years, said the government should do something to crack down on illegal immigrants, but said legislation in Arizona and proposed bills in Ohio are not the answer.
“It’s not good for us because it allows police to harass Hispanic people and not all Hispanic people are illegal.”
Barbara Balle, 18, who is Cuban and has lived in Middletown for seven years, is torn by immigration reform talks.
She said some illegal immigrants who are here breaking laws should get “booted" from the country. However, she said those here illegally who are pursuing the American dream should be offered a path toward a legal status.
Combs said the federal government, not the state, should be taking the lead on the issue. But if the feds won’t, he will.
“You would think sooner or later the federal government is going to wake up and say if we don’t do something, all the states are going to do something,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll get enough pressure on the federal government that they’ll do something.”
Warren County’s perspective
State Rep. Ron Maag, R-Salem Twp., said Combs’ proposal is “In Warren County, one state representative said House Bill 184 has been pending in the Judiciary Committee of the Ohio House for about year since it was introduced by Combs.
“But I doubt if anyone is too interested on the other side of the aisle,” he said.
Maag said he doesn’t believe the bill is “stereotyping” because the employment checks would go through the U.S. Homeland Security Department. “We just want to make sure we’re hiring who we think we’re hiring.”
Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims said the issue is a “work in progress” and continues to be discussed among the 88 Ohio county sheriffs within the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association.
Sims said Warren County had few arrests involving illegal immigrants and did not qualify for training to access federal immigration computer databases.
The access would have enabled corrections officers to start the deportation process at the jail once an illegal immigrant was arrested, Sims said.
He said the county might get a handful of immigration complaints a year and if a complaint is filed, Warren County investigators with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents if a crime may have been committed.
Sims said the immigration issue has been a problem because of the ease of entering the country.
“If they come here legitimately, most people don’t have a problem,” he said.
“We’re not interested in profiling people or targeting them because of their ethnic background,” Sims said. “But if there’s a crime involved, we’re going to investigate it.”
Staff Writer Tiffany Y. Latta contributed to this report
This story contains information from The Associated Press
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