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	Email this page Legislative Link Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Anti-Immigrant Group Opts for Troubling "Legal" Strategy By Brianna Almaguer Sandoval Human Migration and Mobility/Project Voice Policy Graduate Intern "This is the worst it's been. There is a lot of unfriendliness and disrespect against immigrants, and a lot has been happening quiet...We need big help in this town."- Flor Gonzalez, director of Latin American Coalition (Plainfield, NJ)(New York Daily News) Located just south of Newark, New Jersey, Plainfield is a city of an estimated 50,000 persons. Some disconcerting signs have recently surfaced in this mid-size town. It would appear that a quiet but palpable tension has been brewing in Plainfield; the tension has been focused on the town's undocumented immigrants. This month a federal lawsuit challenging a homeowner's right to rent to undocumented immigrants was filed. This should sound familiar; similar lawsuits or municipal ordinances have also been filed in several of towns such as Hazelton (PA), Riverside (NJ), and Escondido, (CA). In Hazleton, a federal judge overturned the town's actions. So what's the twist? This time an anti-immigration legal group has used specific legislation to pursue their actions against immigrants. The suit was brought by the Federation for American Immigration Reform's Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI). The latter is the legal arm of FAIR, an organization that has opposed substantive and humane immigration reform. The suit alleges that Connolly Properties, a property-management company with rental complexes in Northern New Jersey and Allentown, (Pennsylvania), has rented its units to undocumented tenants, which constitutes unlawful harboring. IRLI cites this as a criminal enterprise that encouraged immigration. (Philadelphia Inquirer) The suit was brought on behalf of a former employee and two tenants. According to Mike Hethmon, a lawyer for IRLI the tenants claim that the buildings they were steered into renting were occupied by undocumented immigrants who were too afraid about their immigration status to complain about the poor housing conditions. Furthermore, Hethmon said that the group decided to take on the case as part of its "attrition through enforcement" strategy or the pushing of undocumented immigrants to leave the country by making it more difficult to live in the U.S. A Troubling Tactic to Target Undocumented Immigrants The Immigration Reform Law Institute has opted to use the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to target undocumented immigrants. Originally, the law was designed to prosecute organized crime and alleged criminal syndicates. RICO was expanded in 1996 to include immigration related provisions; under RICO the violation of certain provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) meets the definition of racketeering activity. Anti-Immigration's Golden Tool Plainfield City Council President Harold Gibson said "I think that the people in Plainfield, in terms of the City Council and the general population...frown on illegal immigration...However, my position is that I don't think we should set ourselves up as an immigration authority in terms of people who come from other countries and work here to better themselves and help their families." (Philadelphia Inquirer) The suit comes at a time where Plainfield's immigrant community members have suffered from a recent rise in beatings and robberies, police ticketing of day laborers, and raids by federal immigration officials. Now lawyers who are using RICO in immigration cases argue that RICO should be more broadly interpreted to include those who hire or rent to undocumented immigrants. Donald W. Benson, a lawyer with Little Mendelson has been following the use of RICO in immigration cases states that, "Congress couldn't reach a consensus to reform the immigration laws, states are trying to fill the ga...and local groups are trying to work through local ordinances, so it's just part of a much bigger picture of immigration struggles in the U.S." (North New Jersey News) AFSC Supports Justice and Dialogue in Plainfield Backed by a 90-year history working for peace, justice and reconciliation in troubled areas of the world, American Friends Service Committee is a faith-based organization grounded in Quaker beliefs respecting the dignity and worth of every person regardless of their immigration status. AFSC's Project Voice initiative presses for comprehensive immigration reform that does not diminish the civil and human rights of immigrants, refugees or asylees and calls on Plainfield leaders, faith institutions and community residents to enter into a process of dialogue which would lead to a deeper understanding of both immigrant and non-immigrant residents and how both can work to promote harmony, positive growth, and a united future for the all the people of Plainfield.. Related Article: Escondido Housing Ban Threatens Human Rights Tuesday, June 24, 2008 E-Verify Hits Home by Daniela Martinez Moreno AFSC Special Projects Fellow Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) expressed concerns about E-Verify: "I question all of these systems," said Representative Waters. "I question whether or not we really know whether or not there is a 0.5 percent error or a 4 percent error in the E-Verify system." On June 10, the House Judiciary Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Subcommittee held a hearing on the Electronic Employment Verification System, also known as "E-Verify." The system uses information in databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to check an individual's employment eligibility. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Chair of the Immigration Subcommittee, expressed concerns about the system's faulty database and the potential effects of making E-Verify mandatory for all employers. The SSA's Office of the Inspector General reports that 4.1 percent of its records contain discrepancies related to name, date of birth, or citizenship status, with 12. 7 million of those records pertaining to individuals born in the United States. Rep. Lofgren highlighted Traci Hong's story. Hong serves as Rep. Lofgren's Legislative Counsel. When a government agency used E-verity to check Hong's work eligibility, Hong made "six separate trips" to the personnel office and to SSA to prove that she was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Navigating the system proved difficult for Hong, an immigration lawyer. "Others might have given up," said Rep. Lofgren (USA Today). Half a Percent Goes a Long Way Although Representative Heath Shuler (D-NC) argued that the error rate in E-Verify is "only 0.5 percent", House members pointed out that a 4.1 percent error rate in the SSA database translates to 17.8 million errors that could affect an employee's work eligibility. Subcommittee members raised questions about Representative Shuler's legislation, the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE Act, H.R. 4088), which would mandate the use of E-Verify by all employers. Proponents of Employment Verification at Odds Representatives Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), cosponsors of the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA, H.R. 5515) were also amongst the list of witnesses questioned by House Immigration Subcommittee members. NEVA mandates the creation of a new Secure Electronic Employment Verification System (SEEVS) that would use the SSA database to verify employment eligibility for U.S. citizens or nationals, and DHS information to verify employment eligibility for non-U.S. citizens. According to Representative Giffords, "In Arizona, E-Verify is carrying into virtually all other aspects of life. Media outlets report instances of racial profiling and discrimination on the part of employers." Arizona became the first state to mandate the use of E-Verify for all its employers. However, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) expressed concerns that NEVA still mandates the use of the faulty SSA database. "I question all of these systems," said Representative Maxine Waters. "I question whether or not we really know whether or not there is a 0.5 percent error rate, or a 4 percent error rate," Rep. Waters said. House Members Apprehensive About Potential Discrimination Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, expressed concerns that "for many employers, it will be easier to just not hire employees with 'unusual' names or who appear foreign." Members of the Immigration Subcommittee are also wary about the potential effects of E-Verify on employer discrimination. A September 2007 evaluation on E-Verify conducted by Westat, a research agency for the U.S. government, revealed that "31 percent of employers reported using E-Verify to verify employment eligibility before the employee's first day of paid work." E-Verify prohibits registered employers from using the program for pre-employment screening of job applications. Despite Growing Concerns, Administration Moves Ahead with E-Verify Despite discussions in Congress about the dangers of making E-Verify mandatory for all employers, on June 9 President George Bush amended Executive Order 12989 to mandate the use of the electronic employment verification system for all federal contractors. DHS has designated E-Verify as the electronic employment eligibility verification system that all federal contractors must use to comply with Executive Order 12989. AFSC is troubled with this development and encourages the public to call for the laying down of E-verify. This proposed 'will have a negative impact on the rights of workers, and civil the liberties and labor rights of immigrants and non-immigrants alike. E-verify do not resolve the realities of a broken immigration system which has not kept pace with global changes, economic shifts or the root causes of migration. Friday, June 20, 2008 World Refugee Day: A Global Urgency Today the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commemorates the eighth annual World Refugee Day. This year's events focus on four major refugee situations: Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur and Myanmar. According to a survey released by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a half million Iraqis fled their country in 2007 (Associated Press). Support Iraqi Refugees on World Refugee Day AFSC joins the global community in calling for a humane and united response to the dire situations in these countries and in other regional pockets of the world. Join AFSC in bringing attention to the approximately 5 million Iraqis who fled the violence spurred on by war and occupation. Please write a letter to the editors of your local newspapers drawing attention to this crisis. Below is a sample letter with tips and links on how to send that letter to the editor of your local paper. > Is Your Newspaper Covering the Iraqi Refugee Crisis? > Write a Letter to the Editor To Learn More > Volunteer to Help Refugees > More About AFSC's Work with Iraqi Refugees > AFSC's Living Beyond Borders Blog World Refugee Day Events To find a World Refugee Day event near you visit one of the following the links: Philadelphia (Nationalities Service Center/AFSC) San Francisco (UNHCR). Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlottesville, Oakland, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Tucson (International Rescue Committee). Minneapolis (Twin Cities World Refugee Day). (Photo Credit: AFSC - Iraqi family) ^ Top of page		Search site Sara Ibrahim Human Migration and Mobility/Project VOICE Policy Impact Coordinator SIbrahim@afsc.org Atom Feed Recent Posts Anti-Immigrant Group Opts for Troubling "Legal" St... 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