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Businesses should speak up on illegal immigration law

County moving forward with proposal that cries out for business input

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Beaufort County Council continues to move ahead with its "Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance," and the silence from those who will be most affected by it -- the business community -- is deafening.

There may be as many reasons as there are business owners for that silence. Fear of a backlash from the people who are pushing hard for this ordinance may be one. The moving target the ordinance presents as it morphs after each committee meeting may be another. Councilman Dick Stewart, a business owner in Beaufort, has done his part. But if business operators have concerns about this ordinance, they better speak up. It has passed the first of three votes needed to become law and some council members say they want to see it on the books before the end of the year.

The ordinance makes the county's business-license office a clearinghouse for complaints about illegally employed workers. Suspending the business license would be used as a penalty for businesses with workers verified as illegal.

Businesses would have to show that they had corrected the problem before the suspension would be lifted.

County officials have tightened, changed and dropped some of the provisions in the original proposal. They've dropped a provision that would have made it illegal to rent to people who are not in this country legally and a provision that would have had specially trained deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office inquire about people's citizenship or immigration status if they're arrested. They've taken into account that the federal Basic Pilot Program, which verifies employment eligibility through Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases, is set to expire in November 2008.

The ordinance encourages an employer's voluntary enrollment in the Basic Pilot Program. Businesses must enroll in the program to be eligible for county grants and contracts of more than $10,000. Revisions more clearly state that businesses enrolled in the program would have safe haven from penalties if a violation arises with a person who had passed the program's scrutiny.

It states that the county won't conclude that a person is an unauthorized alien unless a county representative verifies with the federal government a person's citizenship or immigration status. But it doesn't address what happens if there's a problem or a dispute with that verification process. The federal government does make mistakes. If after an investigation, the county concludes that a business is in violation and suspends its business license, but a business disagrees, must the business suspend operations until it makes its case? And how does it makes its case?

An investigation can begin with a "written complaint to the county Business License Division submitted by any county official, business entity or county resident."

The ordinance states that a complaint must be specific, including the date and location of a violation and the name of an alleged "unauthorized alien," but the potential for harassment from a disgruntled former employee, customer or competitor is still there. A business owner must stop his or her work and respond to the county when such a complaint is deemed valid.

It also states that a complaint based solely or primarily on national origin, ethnicity or race shall be deemed invalid, but how does one determine that without an investigation? Do we look into the heart of the complainant to find the true motive?

Not enough is being said about what it would take to enforce this in terms of public money and employees. How will county officials make sure a business is not operating under a suspended license? Nearly 2,000 businesses have been operating without a license in unincorporated Beaufort County, according to a recent county enforcement effort.

If a business has a storefront, you might be able to ensure that it's not operating under a suspended license, but how will the county enforce such a suspension for a subcontractor or landscaper moving from job site to job site?

What do you do about businesses physically located in Jasper County or Savannah, but doing business in Beaufort County? How do you ensure enforcement of the suspension then?

If the business license suspension is the hammer that's supposed to make employers follow the law, then enforcement of that suspension is critical.

And what is the impact on legal workers, suppliers and customers if a business is shut down because of one illegal employee? That's what the suspension is supposed to do, right? Stop the business from operating until the problem is corrected.

Business owners and managers better pay attention to this ordinance and better start expressing their concerns.

As County Councilman Mark Generales implored at the Oct. 23 council meeting,

"For God's sake, don't let us do this in a vacuum."