Beebe: Illegal aliens on radar
Posted on Saturday, April 5, 2008
Gov. Mike Beebe disputed claims Friday by callers to his radio show that the state wasn’t doing enough to combat the presence of illegal aliens.
Beebe said the state has laws regarding illegal aliens and that local law enforcement and prosecutors should enforce them.
Some prosecutors later questioned whether laws exist that would allow them to prosecute businesses employing illegal aliens.
“You haven’t done one thing that deals with employers that hire illegal aliens,” said a caller identified only as Diana in Little Rock. “Why aren’t there fines being enforced to stop this ?” Beebe responded that “actually, ma’am, the state has done something.” “We passed additional legislation,” Beebe said. “In terms of enforcing that, the prosecuting attorneys and police departments are instructed to do that. Whether they are doing that, I urge you to talk to your prosecutor or police department about it.” He said “a lot of people keep talking about that Oklahoma law” on illegal aliens but that Arkansas has ad- dressed the issue with “laws that are existing or new laws passed in the last session about employers hiring illegal aliens and about documentation and proof of citizenship for a number of services including such things as driver’s licenses.” Beebe told the caller that he can’t arrest anybody.
“That’s not my job,” he said. “That’s the police department as well as prosecuting attorneys and they better be doing it.” Another caller identified as Gary in Searcy said he feared that thousands of illegal aliens are fleeing Oklahoma and finding refuge in Arkansas.
“We don’t need any more of them,” the caller said. “It’s not the Mexican people. It’s not the Latinos. It’s just the fact that we don’t need the extra burden.” Beebe responded, “Well, Gary, illegal is illegal, and you’re right, and that’s our position and that’s my policy.” He said state contractors must “certify that they are not hiring illegal aliens.” He also said there is a “private sector... prohibition of doing that,” which the local prosecuting attorney must enforce.
Bob McMahan, the state’s prosecutor coordinator, said he was aware of no laws that allow local prosecutors to get involved in cases of illegal workers.
Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Lona McCastlain said she has never had any complaints to her about illegal workers in her district.
“I’ve never had to deal with anything like that,” she said. “It’s always been federal.” Beebe spokesman Matt De-Cample said later that Beebe didn’t mean that local prosecutors and police should enforce laws targeting illegal aliens. He said Beebe meant to say that citizens should report such complaints to local prosecutors who then should refer it to federal authorities.
Brent Haltom, the prosecuting attorney in Miller County, said law enforcement in his district sometimes help on raids for illegal aliens at plants, but that they are federal cases.
He said the state Department of Finance and Administration recently contacted him about the possibility of prosecuting cases of fraud involving people giving false information to obtain an Arkansas identification card. He wondered if the state was “cracking down” on that.
Tim Leathers, assistant director of the department, said people applying for identification cards must present “proof of legal residency,” not “proof of citizenship,” as Beebe stated.
Leathers said there is no new effort to catch people using false information to get state identification cards.
Dardanelle Police Chief Montie Sims, an officer in the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police, said he’s never had a complaint filed over illegal workers. He said he didn’t know if any state law allowed him to investigate such things, but that if there was a basis for the complaint he would probably call federal authorities.
Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, said he didn’t know why Beebe referred to multiple laws passing regarding illegal aliens. He said the only one he was aware of that passed in 2007 was Act 157, which he sponsored. It requires employers to certify to the state that they have no illegal workers in order to be eligible for a state contract.
There is no enforcement mechanism to that law, but violations can result in the contract being revoked.
“As a state we have not addressed the private sector,” Green said. “Oklahoma has done that. Oklahoma passed a law where the state could revoke a business license if they knowingly hire an illegal employee.” Green said he and other legislators may propose additional legislation in 2009, but he hasn’t finished any plans to do so.
He noted that a group calling itself Secure Arkansas has a proposed initiated act pending before the attorney general. The act would bar illegal aliens from getting certain state services. If approved for proper form, the group would try to place it on this year’s general election ballot.
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