Rogers : Mayor: Illegals laws defensible
Posted on Saturday, October 28, 2006
ROGERS - Mayor Steve Womack said Friday that he can't prove earlier claims that "the clear majority"of his city's drug and gang problems are caused by illegal aliens, but that won't keep him from seeking laws penalizing those who employ or rent to illegal aliens in Rogers.
"I'm not going to be painted in a corner by justifying my actions by establishing percentages,"Womack said. "I know we have a problem."
Newspaper reports about Womack's plans to seek the laws prompted him to hold a news conference Friday afternoon, he said. He said he'd hoped to keep the ordinances' development under wraps.
Womack said he formulated the plan after meeting with members of the city's drug task force after the Oct. 20 shooting of Rogers detective Brian Culpepper.
Culpepper was hit by a bullet from the gun of a Benton County sheriff's deputy when he and nine other officers served a warrant at 703 E. Mimosa St. A woman struggled with one of the deputies, and the gun went off, police said.
Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms was not at the meeting, Womack said.
Sgt. Kelley Cradduck, head of the department's gang suppression unit, said he and other members of the Fraternal Order of Police met with Womack. Cradduck said he guessed about 40 percent of the unit's cases involve illegal aliens. The unit doesn't track how many cases it handles involving illegal aliens.
"We don't keep up with that statistic, and maybe we should,"Cradduck said. "We don't have space on our contact forms."
Womack asked City Attorney Ben Lipscomb this week to obtain copies of ordinances passed in Hazleton, Pa., that impose penalties on business owners who employ illegal aliens and fine landlords who rent to them. Those ordinances, which define the influx of illegal aliens as a nuisance and one that declares English the town's official language, take effect Wednesday.
Womack seeks to model proposed ordinances for Rogers on those from Hazleton. The Hazleton ordinances allow code-enforcement officials to investigate complaints about illegal aliens.
According to the Hazleton ordinance, if an illegal alien is discovered, employers have three days to fire the employee. If the company does not comply, it loses its business license, a document that allows the company to operate in the city. Any legal workers for the company can sue for lost wages.
Under the Hazleton ordinance, employers are required to enroll in the Basic Pilot Program, a federal program that electronically verifies the status of U. S. residents in accordance with the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996.
Landlords would be required to pay a $ 5 application fee per rental unit along with an annual renewal fee. Occupants would have to pay a one-time $ 10 fee to live in the city limits. Rogers has 5, 150 rental units, according to its 2006 Special Census.
The proposed ordinances will be in rough form by the end of next week and will include strengthened language defining how illegal aliens constitute a nuisance, Lipscomb said.
Legal officials said the ordinances could encounter legal opposition if they attempt to regulate illegal immigration locally. The federal government has jurisdiction over the issue, said David Schoen, legal counsel to the Arkansas Municipal League.
While federal statutes and Arkansas Supreme Court precedent provide a broad definition of what can be construed as a nuisance, Rogers' ordinances could be contested if they regulate illegal immigration directly, Schoen said.
"That's where this battle will be fought,"he said. "The question is, 'Is this a municipal affair ?'"
Womack and Lipscomb said at the news conference that the ordinance would be legal because it will address the effects of illegal aliens through nuisance abatement, a tool cities are permitted to use to protect the city's welfare.
"It'll fly,"Lipscomb said. "This is defensible because it does not address the undocumented aliens themselves."
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with several Hispanic groups, sued Hazleton in Pennsylvania district court in July. The ACLU argued that the ordinance "unlawfully infringes on the federal government's authority over immigration... violates the due process rights of landlords, employers and business owners"and "constitutes invidious discrimination,"according to the lawsuit.
The ordinances are legal, said Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta.
Barletta said he consulted with federal officials and lobbying groups when drafting the legislation, including Chris Kobach, an immigration expert who reported to former U. S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and members of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D. C.-based lobbying group that supports ending the influx of illegal aliens and improving border security.
The ordinance being drafted in Rogers could affect the homebuilding and construction industries, said Jan Skopecek, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Home Builders Association.
"There's no question that it will have an effect on the industry,"Skopecek said. "I'm certainly going to talk to [Womack ] about it."
Womack said other cities are bound to follow Rogers' lead if aldermen approve the measure. Springdale City Attorney Jeff Harper called Lipscomb on Friday morning to obtain the Hazleton ordinances and said he expects several aldermen in Springdale to pursue similar restrictions.
"With the issues that Rogers is bringing up - we're going through the same thing,"Harper said. "We're sister cities. I feel like it will be brought up down here."
Harper said he plans to read the Hazleton ordinances over the weekend to prepare for such a debate that could come as early as the next Springdale City Council meeting Nov. 14.
A special census conducted in Rogers this summer showed a population of 48, 666 people, 15, 062, or 30. 9 percent, of whom are Hispanic. Hazleton, a city with 23, 329 people, according to the 2000 Census, included about 1, 132 Hispanic residents, or about 4. 9 percent. But since then, the city has experienced several crimes involving illegal aliens that Barletta said prompted him to draft the ordinances. The last occurred on May 10 when 29-year-old Derek Kischline was shot between the eyes by two illegal aliens, he said. "I got a call from the police chief at 1 a. m.,"he said. "I've had enough."Womack echoed a similar sentiment. "We're frustrated,"Womack said. "Ten or 15 years ago we didn't have gang problems and graffiti problems. What the average person out here is not seeing will alarm them."
To contact this reporter: lboch@arkansasonline. com Information for this article was contributed by Charlie Morasch of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. City comparisons Rogers plans to draft an ordinance setting penalties and fines on those who employ or rent to illegal immigrants. It is modeled after two ordinances passed in Hazleton, Pa. Here are key figures for Hazleton and Rogers: HAZLETON 2000 Population: 23, 329 Current population estimate: 31, 000 2000 Hispanic population: 1, 132 Renter-occupied housing units: 4, 216
ROGERS 2000 Population: 38, 829 Current population estimate: 48, 666 Current Hispanic population: 15, 062 Renter-occupied housing units: 5, 150 Sources: 2000 U. S. Census, cities of Hazleton and Rogers
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