Congressman David Davis to Address T-FIRE

Congressman David Davis (1st District-TN) will speak about illegal immigration, on Saturday, February 16, 2008, at the VFW in Morristown, TN, at 10:00 am.

Congressman Davis will address the massive tax burden placed upon all taxpayers as a result of illegal immigration and highlight actions that the government and citizens can take to curb this ever-increasing problem.

T-FIRE, an organization of Tennessee Taxpayers United Against Illegal Immigration, is hosting the event. A pancake breakfast will be served from 8:30-9:45. Tickets for the breakfast are $5.00. For tickets or other information, contact T-FIRE at 587-3711 or visit www.t-fire-org.

From the Morristown Police

ROGER OVERHOLT

Chief of Police

MEDIA RELEASE

January 23, 2008

09:30 a.m.

For more information call: 423-585-4680

_______________________________________________________________________________

Two Morristown residents are in jail this morning and numerous items and two vehicles were seized as the result of two search warrants executed last night in the city limits of Morristown following a several months long investigation into a fraudulent document mill being operated out of two residences. A short time after 9:00 p.m. on 01-22-08 officers and agents of the Morristown City Police Department simultaneously executed two search warrants, one at 1105 Sherwood Drive, and the other at 423 Walters Drive. Officers also had in hand an outstanding warrant on one of the subjects arrested.

During the search of both residences, agents found multiple documents believed to be fraudulent, including international driver’s licenses, resident alien cards, social security cards, and passports. Also found and seized were computers and other electronic equipment allegedly used to manufacture the fraudulent documents, along with supplies associated with these items, to include cameras, scanners, laminators, labels, and laminate. Two vehicles believed to have been used to transport these items were also seized, a blue 1995 Chevrolet Blazer and a green 1995 Ford Contour.

Although no substantial amount of money was located during these particular searches, documents located at both residences indicate that money had been wired to Mexico on a regular basis.

Humerto Otero Cea, 30 years old of 423 Walters Drive, is charged with four counts of criminal simulation. An outstanding warrant for Mr. Cea was also served upon him concerning an incident during the undercover operation in which he sold one resident alien card and one social security card to an undercover informant working with the Morristown Narcotics / Vice Division. He was arrested at the 1105 Sherwood Drive location.

Rene Otero Bautista, 25 years old of 1105 Sherwood Drive, is also charged with four counts of criminal simulation. He was found to be in possession of a forged international driver’s permit, a forged social security card, a forged resident alien card, and a forged Tennessee identification card as a result of the search warrant, also at 1105 Sherwood Drive.

“At this time we do not believe these individuals to be legally documented to be in the United States,” stated Morristown City Police Chief Roger Overholt. “We will ask that the subjects be held without bond pending positive identification, and we will also request that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) place detainer warrants on the subjects.”

Morristown authorities continue to work to determine the extent of the operation. Records located at the residences indicate that the individuals arrested had worked in Hamblen and surrounding counties for more than one year, which leads police to believe they had been providing fraudulent documents to individuals during that time frame.

“It is vitally important that we as a local agency address these type operations,” continued the Chief. “By putting these fraudulent document mills out of business on a local level, we believe the effect will have an impact throughout the region. It is our intent to continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those responsible for these types of crimes, as well as the individuals who use the fraudulent documents.”

As of this morning, both subjects are currently incarcerated in the Hamblen County Jail under an investigative detention which is in the process of being placed on them by I.C.E., according to the Morristown City Police Department Vice Unit. They will have their first court appearance today.

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.

David Davis Sponsors Good Immigration Bill

By John Gullion, Tribune Managing Editor

For East Tennessee residents questioning why the federal government hasn’t done more to curb the rising tide of illegal immigrants. Congressman David Davis has a simple message: He feels your pain. Davis, R-Tenn., said a piece of legislation that he has sponsored, the Save America with Verification and Enforcement or SAVE Act, is the first step in turning the tide.

"The federal government has not been willing to do its job. I think it’s time for the federal government to do its job," he said Tuesday. "It’s one of the things that frustrates the people in America and it frustrates me as a congressman that the federal government has not done enough on this issue."The SAVE Act includes three main components, Davis said. First he wants to improve border security by adding 8,000 border patrol agents. The act would also provide for an aerial surveillance system using planes and satellite similar to one used in Israel, Davis said.

"We’d know who is coming across the border and who is approaching the border," Davis added.The second step basically would expand the verification program employers use to ensure that prospective employees are legal. Each citizen will be issued a card with a magnetic strip, like a credit card. Employers could then swipe those cards to verify an employees citizenship status."It would clean up the situation so that those employers are protected," Davis said.

"You’re never going to be able to send back 20 million illegals but you can make sure the ones that are here legally was the only ones that get benefits. We mandate employers only hire legal workers but there’s not a good system. It’s hard for an employer to really know who they are hiring."The second part of the SAVE act would also mandate improved cooperation and the cross checking of records between the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.The third part of Davis’ plan goes to improve a program that is already in place.

The 287 (g) program allows local law enforcement officers to become quasi-Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. A move has been afoot in Hamblen County to get Morristown officers and county deputies into the program. However, Sheriff Esco Jarnagin said this week that he has been told by an unnamed government official that neither Hamblen nor Morristown police will be accepted into the program due to the fear that local officers could choke the federal system with too many illegal immigrants too quickly and it would be too expensive."What frustrates me," Jarnagin said at the time, "is that the federal government is not preventing illegal aliens from coming across the border, and we are not getting any support when illegal aliens overrun a community."

Davis said that’s not an acceptable answer. Davis wants to make it so that local officers who want to be trained can be. Davis said the answer Jarnagin got this week in unacceptable. Davis responded saying federal monies are available to offset the cost of the training as well as the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants until ICE officers can process them into the system, Davis said."I talk to people across my district daily. This is an issue that weighs heavy on their minds," he said. "It affects their life either through increased taxes, increased (cost of) incarceration, increased (cost of) health care and increase burden on the educational system," Davis said. "This issue touches other issues that people care about."

"David Davis and I are on the same page," Jarnagin said Thursday morning. "I believe in Congressman Davis. I believe in his view point. Congressman Davis is very energetic about this problem."Davis said once this session is over in Washington, he plans to come to Hamblen County and host a meeting between a homeland security official, himself, Morristown Police Chief Roger Overholt and Sheriff Jarnagin."I’m frustrated with the Democratic leadership (of Congress) not wanting to take on this issue. I’m frustrated with the Republican administration of the executive branch," Davis said. "I think the American people are demanding a fix for this ever growing problem of illegal immigration."

Commissioner Joe Swann

Based on information from a reliable source, the tax burden imposed on Hamblen citizens by the huge population of illegal aliens far exceeds any costs that would come from hiring and training local law enforcement to assist federal agents.

I believe its a fair assumption to make that Mr. Swann, who makes his living as an accountant, knows this and is engaged in a smoke screen operation with his claim that his opposition to the resolution was based on his fear that its ratification would result in a tax increase.

I know that he is a member of Thom Robinson's chamber of commerce and this alone is probably enough to explain his long winded explanation at the commission meeting. Still It would be interesting to see a list of clients who get their accounting done at Mr. Swann's firm. Just a thought.

Recently, we ran a story here at T-FIRE News about a plant in Sprinfield, Tennessee that was exposed by the Nashville press as having knowingly or passively hired dozens of illegal aliens.

On December 15, "dozens of employees" left the Electrolux Plant when Human Resources finally did their job.

Pro-Illegal Groups Don't Like the Law

The State of Arizona recently passed a tough new law requiring greater hiring verifications to insure that employees are legal residents and/or American citizens.

The illegal aliens don't like it one bit.

ICE Arrests 448

If you don't think there are a lot of illegal aliens running around the Southeast-or you believe (as the head of the Morristown-Hamblen Chamber of Commerce does) that we don't have an illegal immigration problem-look what Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently found in five Southern States.

Identity Theft at Koch Foods

By ROBRT MOORE

An identity-theft arrest of a Koch Foods employee Thursday is the sports equivalent of a slow, hanging curveball lobbed into the wheelhouse of Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker.

Tucker, the prime mover in a city council initiative designed to shift enforcement of some federal immigration laws to the Morristown Police Department, appears intent on hitting this offering way back.


The city council member says he plans to follow this case through the legal system in an effort to gain insight into whether Morristown companies are knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

The end of Thursday’s story is that a Koch Foods employee who identified herself as Lucia Perez was arrested at the chicken-processing plant in the East Tennessee Progress Center and charged with felony identity theft.

Perez had a company-issued photo ID card under the name of Julie Wheeler, according to MPD Detective Sgt. Randall Noe. Perez maintains she is 27. The real Julie Wheeler is 42.
Perez, a Mexican national, allegedly gave Wheeler’s Social Security number to Koch Foods human resources personnel when she was hired and assumed Wheeler’s identity, according to Noe.


The investigative trail that led to Perez’s arrest, however, began 1,100 miles away in the coastal hamlet of Swanville, Maine. That’s where Wheeler moved after she left Morristown in 2005. Wheeler, who says she qualified for disability benefits following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome, received a troubling telephone call from the Social Security Administration earlier this week.

The SSA demanded that she repay $14,000 in disability payments. The reason that Wheeler owed the money is that Social Security records indicated that she had been working at Koch Foods in Morristown for the past two years. Wheeler says that she telephoned Koch Foods Thursday and asked a resources worker to write a letter to a Social Security office in Maine stating that she was not an employee. Wheeler alleges that a Koch Foods employee refused.


Tim Steffin, Koch Foods human resources manager, was unavailable for comment this morning. Noe says Koch Foods is cooperating with the investigation.

Wheeler says she strongly suspects that her former live-in boyfriend in Morristown, who Wheeler described as an illegal alien, stole her Social Security card during their relationship.
"The astonishing part of this is that (Perez) is obviously a Hispanic female and she was able to say that she is Julie Wheeler," Tucker said.


The city council member also says it’s hard for him to comprehend how the company could not have realized that Perez was not 42 years old.

"I have been saying that corporations here have been employing illegal aliens at very low wages, which in my opinion, has been depressing the wages for workers in Hamblen County," Tucker said this morning.

Tucker believes that this is the reason that the median family income actually dropped between 2000 to 2007.


It remains unclear whether Perez presented Wheeler’s Social Security card or just gave Wheeler’s Social Security number when she was hired at Koch Foods. Noe says he expects to learn that some time today.

"It will be gained either through cooperation or the legal process," Noe said this morning.
Noe asked that Perez be held without bond because he considers her a flight risk. Those convicted of identity theft face between two and four years in jail.

"That has resulted, in my opinion, in an insufficient disposable income for people to buy anything other than necessities here," Tucker added. "This resulted in an increase of the property tax of 40 percent last year."
____________

The disconnect between a Hispanic Koch Foods employee and a valid Social Security number, which surfaced with an identity-theft arrest at the Morristown chicken-processing plant Thursday, apparently wasn’t an uncommon phenomenon, suggest jail records.

Over the past two years, 39 Hispanics who identified themselves as Koch Foods employees have been booked into the Hamblen County Jail on a variety of charges, records indicate.
Only two gave corrections officers a Social Security number. The records did not indicate whether officers attempted to verify the numbers.

One of the workers, Juan Ramos Santiago, told corrections officers he was a citizen of Mexico, not the United States, according to jail records. The purported citizenship of the other man who gave a Social Security number, Jose Gregorio Vasquez, was not listed on his booking sheet.
Hamblen County jailers do not attempt to verify the places of employment for Hispanics or other inmates, so the possibility exists that the inmates could have lied about their connection to Koch Foods.


Tim Steffin, Koch Foods human resources manager, did not return telephone calls to comment. Other company officials were given the opportunity to comment but did not return calls.
Morristown Police Department Detective Sgt. Randall Noe, the lead investigator in the identity-theft case, says a Koch Foods human resources worker reported that Koch Foods visually verifies all prospective employees’ citizenship documents.

Noe said Koch Foods indicated the company does not keep copies of the qualifying documents — Social Security cards, alien-registration cards or passports — in employees’ personnel files.
Noe arrested 27-year-old Lucia Perez Thursday afternoon because she allegedly had assumed the identity of Julie Wheeler, a 42-year-old Maine resident who says her Social Security card was stolen when she lived in Morristown two years ago.


"It concerns law enforcement any time there is a perception that someone is breaking the law, whether it be federal or state law," Morristown Police Chief Roger Overholt said Saturday afternoon.

"Any time that these situations exist, we like to examine all the information to try to determine if there is a situation which warrants further investigation," the police chief added. "We know that it’s possible for undocumented individuals to obtain false documents and present them to employers."

Noe asked that Perez be held without bond because he considers her to be a flight risk. She was released from jail Friday after posting $10,000 bond.


All but three of the 39 listed said they were born in Mexico.
Only 12 of the 39 said they were U.S. citizens, and none of those who reported they were citizens possessed a driver’s license, according to jail records.
In fact, two of the three men who had Tennessee driver’s licenses, Santiago and Florentino Ramos, told jailers they were not U.S. citizens.

One man who told authorities he worked at Koch Foods, Julio S. Mendoza, had been deported two times under two different names, according to jail records.

He and 12 other Hispanics had known aliases. A man who sometimes went by Juventino Mendoza Aragon, tops the list. He has five known aliases reports indicate.

The Koch Foods Morristown plants, which employ more than 1,000 workers, have never been raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.


Immigration officers arrested dozens of illegal aliens at the Fairmont Street facility when it was Burnett Produce.

In late August, I.C.E. swarmed a Koch Foods chicken-processing plant in Fairfield, Ohio and arrested more than 160 suspected illegal immigrants, according to agency releases.
Simultaneously, agents executed search warrants at Koch’s Chicago headquarters.

The charges filed against the Koch employees in the sting include illegal re-entry to the United States, identity theft, document fraud, Social Security fraud and forgery.

Koch’s Ohio operations were targeted in a two-year federal investigation "based on evidence that Koch may have knowingly hired illegal aliens at its poultry processing and packaging facility," according to an I.C.E. press release.

Springfield Plant A Magnet for Illegals

SPRINGFIELD, TENN.-A hidden camera investigation conducted by NewsChannel 5 revealed Springfield's biggest employer may be the biggest offender when it comes to hiring undocumented immigrants.

Electrolux is one of the largest manufacturing plants in Middle Tennessee.
It employs thousands of workers.

But a NewsChannel 5 investigation uncovered some disturbing facts about many of those employees.

From city leaders to factory employees, several people said the same thing about Electrolux. They said illegal immigrants, not Americans, comprise a large portion of its workforce.

Three years ago, the company came to Robertson County and local residents were excited about the hundreds of new jobs it would bring.

"They tend to project a family-oriented business here," said an employee.
Its opening was seen as a surefire boost to the local economy.

"You know they care so it's a perfect place for a single mom to be," said an employee.
But how many of those jobs went to American workers?

"This is what Springfield, Robertson County is," said Amanda Clack, a former employee. "They are taking over."

Clack says few positions went to Americans.
She claims Electrolux is a big draw for immigrants.
"Ninety percent of that plant is Mexicans," she said. "Maybe 5 percent white, 5 percent black."

"There's only two people next to me who speak English, the rest of them are Hispanic around me," said an employee."They constantly want to say we're going to go to Mexico,' another employee said. "Why go to Mexico, when Mexico is here."

To get hired at Electrolux, applicants first go through a staffing agency called Randstad. Hiring occurs inside a trailer next to the plant. Four people equipped with hidden cameras went to the trailer to see what happens.

One person ventured into Randstad under the premise that she recently arrived in this country and needed a job.
While waiting to fill out paperwork, she met a man who was reapplying.
He allegedly reapplied using fake documentations.
The man told the decoy about someone he knew who provided fake documents.
Outside the trailer, he told her how much.
"Around $900 you will get a birth certificate, a social security number from Puerto Rico," he said. "It has a name and address and everything."
He showed her his own fake state identification
.
"It's easy to get the job, and you don't have to speak English," he said.
Around town, the decoys sent by NewsChannel 5 learned Electrolux is the best place to work for undocumented immigrants.
"It's around $800 to get a social security number," one man said.
They also learned about a Puerto Rican black market in which identities are bought and sold.No one seems to care if they're caught.

"They are reapplying because they are getting fired, and then they are reapplying with other documentations, and then getting hired again," said one decoy.
An applicant works for Randstad, but at Electrolux, for the first three while their papers are being verified.
"There's plenty of people there," one man said. "Some that will be fired today and they go and buy different papers, and then they go either to a different shift, or the same shift."
"Now, they need a lot of people, but there's no people to hire," he said. "And yes, they know those documents do not belong to us."

Randstad and Electrolux denied anything like this goes on.
But one man who urged the undercover decoy to apply with Randstad, saying Randstad knew his papers were fake, but rehired him anyway.
"Every one of us goes there and nothing happens," he said. "Don't be afraid. I worked there three years and nothing happened."

The situation at Electrolux has left many in Springfield with a familiar frustration.
"Since the Mexicans will work for lower amounts of money, they will hire them, and then leaving us out here, not being able to find a job," Clack said.

Randstad denies any wrongdoing.
A spokeswoman said they have an outside company that also checks to make sure the documents they receive are real. Springfield City Manager Paul Nutting said what the investigation revealed wasn't something new to him.
He said he's known about this issue for years and it's had a negative impact on Springfield.

In an interview Thursday, he discusses the Electrolux situation.
Electrolux also defended its hiring practices in a statement.

"We are confident that this process of independently verifying employee documentation minimizes the chances of undocumented workers slipping through," according to a written statement from a spokesman. "If any should, they eventually will be identified, and fired."

The Resolutions Pass

The Morristown City Council has finally decided that illegal immigration is enough of a problem in Morristown and Hamblen County to call on our State and federal Governments to take action to relieve the community.

Is it just us here at T-FIRE, or are these resolutions-which were courageously brought forward by Councilman Mel Tucker-long overdue?

Huckabee a Disaster?

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is emerging as one of the top contenders for the 2008 Republican nomination. Groups that want to secure our borders and enforce America's immigration laws are warning that Huckabee could be disastrous on the immigration front:

Groups that support a crackdown on illegal aliens haven't settled on their champion in the race for the White House, but there's little doubt which Republican scares them most — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. "He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a major role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year's Senate immigration bill. "Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens." As Mr. Huckabee rises in the polls, his opponents are beginning to take shots at him on immigration. Just as problematic for the former Arkansas governor, however, is that the independent interest groups that track the issue are also giving him the once-over, and don't like what they see. "Huckabee is the guy who scares the heck out of me," said Peter Gadiel, president of 9-11 Families for a Secure America, a group instrumental in fighting

for the REAL ID Act that sets federal standards for driver's licenses.

She Was for It, Now She is Against It

By DEVLIN BARRETT-Associated Press

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor.

Clinton has faced criticism from candidates in both parties for her noncommittal answers on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses. Spitzer abandoned the effort Wednesday.

"I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal," Clinton said in a statement. "As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."

Clinton stumbled when asked about the issue during a Democratic debate two weeks ago, and her new position comes the day before another debate where opponents are expected to raise the issue again.

Rival campaigns made clear they were not letting go of the issue.

"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," said Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton, referring to the Clinton campaign's admission that aides had staged a question for her at an Iowa event.

Colleen Flanagan, a spokesman for Chris Dodd, called Clinton's position "flip-flopping cubed. She was for it before she was against it, before she was for it, before she was against it."

Spitzer met with New York lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday, and conceded that there was too much public opposition to his plan. Clinton did not attend the meeting.

"It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic," he said.The Democratic governor introduced the plan two months ago with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring immigrants "out of the shadows." Opponents charged the scheme would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification, and make the country less safe.

The decision is another example of the roadblocks high-profile immigration reforms have faced this year. Less than five months ago, Congress failed to pass legislation that would legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants and fortify the border with Mexico.

"The federal government has lost control of its borders... and now has no solution to deal with it," Spitzer said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Spitzer's reversal on the license issue "a good development" and said immigration is a federal issue for which his department has to "ramp up enforcement."

"What I want to make sure is that states aren't working at cross purposes with us and enabling the kind of conduct we're enforcing against," Chertoff told The Associated Press by telephone from London.

The Railroading

By now, those following the issue of immigration law enforcement have heard about the Border Patrol Agents who were sentenced to prison for shooting those trying to cross our borders in violation of the law.

Now we learn that the men those agents shot at were scoundrels of the worst sort who were trying to smuggle drugs across the U.S. border. What was suspected has been confirmed.

So these men (who are Hispanic Americans) who have done their duty in protecting the sovereignty of the United States are put into prison where they are beaten (probably by illegal alien criminals), while the career criminal they shot might get 40 years, or might be deported only to return again.

Mel Tucker Fights the Power

BY ROBERT MOORE, Tribune Staff Writer


Having suffered setbacks on two fronts involving illegal immigrants, Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker is moving ahead with a new four-prong offensive designed to prod goverment into action.

This time, he has a clear majority of council members on board, and the council is scheduled to approve Tucker’s policy package on Nov. 20

Tucker has enough votes to pass a resolution urging our federal legislators — Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and David Davis — to adequately fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to prod immigration officials to do their job.

The council member wants state legislators, John Litz and Steve Southerland, to introduce bills that would make it a felony offense to knowingly employ, transport or house illegal immigrants.

The state law Tucker seeks, which could be modeled after legislation that recently went into effect in Oklahoma, also would require law enforcement officials to detain illegals until they can be deported.

Third on Tucker’s illegal-immigration wish list is directing Morristown City Attorney Dick Jessee to conduct research on the powers of municipal governments to combat an influx of undocumented residents.

Finally, the councilman wants to try another approach to have MPD officers certified to perform certain duties of a federal immigration officer.

Tucker’s initial effort was thwarted, in part, because I.C.E. is reserving the limited training spots for agencies that operate a jail.

His new idea is to have Hamblen County Sheriff Esco Jarnagin deputize five MPD officers, then send them to school with five county corrections officers.

If this proposed end-run around the I.C.E. guidelines works, the MPD officers would be able to process criminal aliens into a federal database and initiate deportation proceedings without relying on a federal agent. .

The officers who complete the school also could document alleged illegal immigrants they encounter during the course of routine police work and forward their names to I.C.E., which could act on the information.

The officers would not have the authority to conduct raids.

"I think it’s our responsibility as a legislative and political body to be looking at this problem," Tucker said. "When I see and watch the news and every agency around the country says, ‘Why, that’s not my problem, that’s the federal government’s problem’... Well, you know, it’s our problem because it’s affecting us, in my opinion."

In August 2006, responding to complaints about up to 10 Hispanics living in a house on Rosedale Avenue, Tucker launched an initiative to set occupancy limits for residences inside the Morristown city limits.

Eight months later, Tucker got what he wanted, but it was a hollow victory. The city council essentially adopted the same occupancy guidelines enforced by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The federal rules permit up to 14 adults to live in a 1,900-square-foot house.

Tucker says groups with similar stated goals like the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen have approached him with offers of support.

Tucker says he turned them down flat, and emphasizes that he’s not affiliated with any anti-illegal-immigration group.

"I always act on my on," Tucker said. "I’m not speaking for anyone else except myself. I believe that the laws of our land ought to be enforced. I think you move toward anarchy when you don’t do that, and the federal government needs to step up to the plate and do it’s job."

Tucker adopted a novel approach to drive home his point at Tuesday’s council meeting.

In a serious tone, Tucker proposed that the Morristown Police Department suspend enforcement of drunken-driving and all other alcohol-related laws.

Stunned silence filled Council Chambers. Council member Kay Senter’s draw dropped.

When everyone had time to weigh whether Tucker had lost his mind, he allowed that it was an absurd proposition but no less absurd than the federal government to not enforcing immigration laws.

Tucker believes that the influx of illegal immigrants in Hamblen County is at least partially responsible for the drop in median family income, which fell from $27,000 in 2000 to $26,300 in 2006.

He contends that Morristown might be a more attractive location for illegals than many other cities because it’s an "industrial-based, relatively low-wage community."

He maintains this is important for council members because sales-tax revenues fund a large portion of city government’s operations.

"Personally, I believe that people don’t have the disposable income to buy products that generate sales tax that we’ve relied upon in the past," Tucker said.

The Tucker Resolutions

Morristown City Councilman Mel Tucker is fed up with illegal immigration, and he's tired of the Morristown-Hamblen County Chamber of Commerce pretending that it isn't a problem. What he proposed to do is for the Council to use its discretionary powers to demand via a resolution that our Representatives in Nashville and Washington take action (reports T-FIRE member and former Hamblen County Commissioner Linda Noe):

1. Draft a resolution to send to Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Congressman David Davis requesting that ICE (Immigration and Custom Enforcement) receive additional funding and do its job enforcing the federal immigration laws.

2. Draft a resolution to send to state Senator Steve Southerland and Representative John Litz asking that they push legislation in Tennessee similar to Oklahoma HB 1804. This recently enacted Oklahoma law prohibits the issuance of government ID's (such as licenses) to illegal immigrants; prohibits public assistance to illegal immigrants; makes it a felony for a U.S. citizen to transport, harbor, or employ illegal immigrants; and requires that illegal immigrants be detained without bond until deportation.

3. Authorize city attorney Dick Jessee to research the issue and advise council of all legal means available to identify and take action against illegal immigrants.

4. Fund Hamblen County Sheriff Jarnagin's expenses for 10 "deputies" to attend ICE certification training that is reserved only for those agencies, such as Hamblen County, that operate jails. Among those ten would be 5 Morristown Police Deptartment officers who would be deputized by the Sheriff.

That last point is critical, because since the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws, our local law enforcement must rake up the burden.

Let's let Councilman Tucker know that we support his efforts!

What We are Really Looking For

Investors' Business Daily's Michael Barone hits the nail on the head as to what the real impetus is for those of us who are concerned about the threat of illegal immigration into this country-and it isn't race:

You don't have to be a racist to be bothered by such things. You just have to be a citizen who thinks that massive failure to enforce the law is corrosive to society. That was apparent to me as I listened to a focus group of Republican voters in suburban Richmond, Va., conducted by Peter Hart for the Annenberg School of Communications.

One voter after another complained that the immigration laws were not being enforced. None of them made any derogatory remarks about Latino immigrants — two said they admired how hard immigrants work. They don't want to see Latinos banished from this country. They want the immigrants here to be legally here.

Here at T-FIRE, this is our collective sentiment-word for word.

Checkpoints are So Helpful

Our border patrol agents are having such a difficult time, and the ladies and gentlemen manning our official border checkpoints have been such a help-they let 21,000 people through border checkpoints that did not have proper documentation.

Minuteman Leader: No Compromise On Illegal Immigration

From The Tennessean


By COLBY SLEDGE Staff Writer
A leader in volunteer patrolling of U.S. borders said his group was at a "no-compromise position" concerning illegal immigration during a speech at Belmont University this morning.

"This is not about being anti-immigrant; this is not about hate," said Chris Simcox, president of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "This is about citizens doing their duty."More than 170 students, faculty and community leaders attended the event at the Massey Business Center, according to estimates by Belmont officials.

More than 9,000 Minutemen volunteer for patrol trips on U.S. borders, primarily focusing on identifying and reporting people crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States.

Simcox spoke out mainly against the federal government, saying members of the U.S. Congress were ''selling out our citizenship'' in exchange for furthering American addictions to drugs and cheap labor.''Angst and anger and activism need to be directed at those we hired,'' Simcox said.

The audience mostly listened quietly during the 45-minute lecture, which included a question-and-answer session. Simcox drew ire from some students during the speech for insinuating that protesters at previous events were actually upset over crackdowns on drug cartels coming from Mexico.''Sometimes I think that's what they're really protesting, is losing their cheap drug supply,'' Simcox said.

Simcox will be at Middle Tennessee State University at 6 p.m. in the State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building. The event is free and open to the public.

And They Tell Us it is No Problem

The Morristown-Hamblen Chamber of Commerce thinks that there is no problem with illegal immigration in Hamblen County.

Here at T-FIRE we are certain of one thing, and it is that the percentage of school populations in Hamblen County Schools that are considered "Hispanic" was not nearly as high as late as five years ago as the Citizen-Tribune (a paper that all but favors illegal immigration) is reporting that they are this year:

Fairview- Marguerite, 33.7 percent Hispanic; Hillcrest, 26.6 percent; Lincoln Heights Elementary, 32.3 percent; and West Elementary, 25.7 percent.

Either there has been a massive influx of new legal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America who have followed the law, a large portion of the population of Puerto Rico have relocated en masse to East Tennessee, or there has been a massive increase in the number of illegal aliens in East Tennessee in the last decade, some of whom have had children while here so that they can milk the system.

What hypothesis do you think most likely?