The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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December 17, 2007

Blunt seeks tougher laws against illegal immigration

The Associated Press

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — Gov. Matt Blunt proposed a series of new state laws Monday that would crack down on illegal immigration.

The measures would penalize businesses that employ illegal immigrants or transport them, and would prohibit the creation of so-called “sanctuary cities” that prohibit local police from checking immigration documents.

All four of the new proposals would need approval from the Legislature, and Blunt said he would press for their passage during next year’s legislative session. He said the measures are necessary because the federal government has failed to overhaul immigration policy.

“Our open hearts and open minds, when it comes to legal immigration, doesn’t mean that we have to suspend the law,” Blunt said at a news conference here.

The legislative proposals come on the heels of two executive orders Blunt issued this summer to crack down on illegal immigration.

One order called for state inspectors to check the immigration status for employees of contractors who get financial incentives from the state. The other called for Missouri State Highway Patrol agents to check the status of every person the agency incarcerates.

Since passage of the orders, the patrol has turned over 126 illegal immigrants to federal authorities, Blunt said.

The measures are raising concerns in Missouri’s Hispanic business community, said Jorge Riopedre, secretary of the St. Louis-area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re seeing what I think is an unprecedented increase in this state in government control and intrusion into our personal lives and into businesses just trying to conduct legitimate business,” Riopedre said.

Those concerns might make it harder for Blunt to shepherd his proposals into law next year. Riopedre said Monday that he and three other people recently formed “HisPAC,” a political action committee.

“We are going to try to raise as much money as possible in this coming election year and try to give it to politicians that might see more eye-to-eye with our issues,” Riopedre said.

One of Blunt’s new measures would require public employers in the state — like school districts or city governments — to check the immigration status of every new hire. Blunt said the employers would be mandated to use “E-Verify,” a database administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Blunt said the database is free to use and takes only minutes to check the status of a prospective employees.

Riopedre said a state audit in Arizona found that E-Verify has a 4 percent error rate, and that roughly half of all employers used it improperly to check the immigration status of current employees.

Blunt also wants to make it state crime to transport illegal immigrants for “human trafficking, drug trafficking, prostitution or illegal labor.”

The third measure would ban “sanctuary cities,” which prohibit local police from checking the immigration status of citizens. Blunt said he didn’t know of any such cities in the state.

The fourth proposal would increase penalties on any contractor found to employ illegal immigrants, allowing the state to withhold up to 25 percent of any unpaid compensation if a contractor is found to employ illegal immigrants. While current penalties apply only to construction companies, the new law would apply to all contractors, Blunt said.

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