Hire Illegals? Your Business Licence Could Be Pulled

On Jan. 1, Tennessee joined Arizona as the only states in the nation to threaten employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants with significant sanctions. In both states employers caught more than once can lose their business licenses.

In Arizona, a series of lawsuits brought by business, civil liberties and immigrant advocacy groups halted the law's enforcement until at least March 1.

But in Tennessee, the state is moving forward with plans to investigate reports of illegal workers on job sites. That got the attention of the state's private business owners.

No complaints, investigations or public hearings related to Tennessee's Illegal Alien Employment Act have been filed to date. But at Wednesday's meeting, the questions that came from business owners, activists, lawyers and workplace managers were laced with fear.

One wanted to know if documents an employer filed under a now defunct federal program to help a foreign-national obtain a visa to work in the United States could now be used in an Illegal Alien Act investigation.

Another wondered if the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has plans to work with or share information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE.

"It's the topic of discussion," said Andy Hall of Franklin County. He is greenhouse manager at a wholesale nursery.

"It's trade show time in our industry, and I would say this is the topic of conversation. Folks are worried."

Hall said he left the forum with a better understanding of the letter of the law and the zeal with which it is likely to be enforced.

A Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development official spelled out the law's emphasis on punishing employers who knowingly hire illegal workers.

He explained that the law gives a pass to any business owner who has every employee complete a federal I-9 form or who uses a federal database known as E-Verify.

Each new hire must also allow his or her new employer access to some combination of identifying documents such as a driver's license, passport or Social Security card.

Enforcement questioned

As of Monday, just 563 of Tennessee's more than 117,000 employers had registered to use the E-Verify system, according to ICE data. Another 44,465 have inquired about it in fiscal 2008.

But Dan Bailey, the state agency's legal counsel, also acknowledged that given the lack of resources, money or staff, that came along with the new law, it is unclear just how the department will be able to enforce it.

Bailey would not rule out working with ICE.

Other questions pointed to some of the loopholes and what one business owner called "traps" that exist in state and federal immigration and hiring laws.

For instance, Hall said he learned Wednesday that while employers are required under long-standing federal law and the state's new law to go though the I-9 process with new hires, they are not required to keep copies of the supporting documents.

Those who do may inadvertently provide the government with evidence against their company and employees if raided by immigration agents, said Nashville immigration lawyer Mario Ramos.