From the Tennessean
On. Jan. 1, Tennessee will join one other state in doing what many say the federal government does not: forcing employers to hire only legal workers.

Here and in Arizona, employers that knowingly hire illegal immigrants will be forced to fire them. Those caught again in a three-year period can lose their business licenses for one year in Tennessee and permanently in Arizona. A similar Oklahoma law will be effective in July.

“I think we’ve got a strong law. Things will probably start out slow,” said state Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, one of the law’s sponsors. “But I think by March, we are going to start seeing an increase in the number of illegals moving to other states.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona is challenging that state’s law. A federal judge on Friday refused to delay its Jan. 1 start, but an appeal and other suits are pending. At issue is whether states can impose requirements and penalties that conflict with federal law.

None of the Tennessee advocates or business groups contacted last week planned to file a suit here, saying they’ll wait and see how things play out.

“There’s a lot here that’s unknown, starting with just how vigorously the state will administer the law,” said Linda Rose, a Nashville immigration attorney who has worked with area employers and individuals for more than 20 years.

“I wouldn’t say there’s panic. But I wouldn’t say that our legislators have really thought through the economic impact this legislation could have, either. I can tell you this for sure. A day without Mexicans would be a very sad day in Tennessee.”

Agencies will report

Under the new law, Tennessee’s state and local government agencies can report to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development any of the state’s roughly 110,000 employers if they are suspected of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

State and local agencies may become aware of such situations when they make an arrest, when they conduct safety and other types of inspections, or through tips from the general public.

Employers who meet existing federal requirements, which require new hires to fill out a form called an I-9 and provide information such as a Social Security card and driver’s license, will not be penalized, said Dan Bailey, general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Neither will those who run the names of new hires through a federal database known as E-verify, formerly known as Basic Pilot. It checks to see if the name provided by a worker matches the government-issued Social Security number and birth date association with that name.

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce has described the state law as “tough but fair.”

“This is a prime immigration bill,” said Bradley Jackson, vice president of governmental affairs for the Tennessee Chamber, which represents about 1,000 businesses and large business coalitions. “We were very happy with the bill that we ultimately got.”

Early versions of the law would have fined business owners or permanently revoked the business licenses of repeat offenders.

It’s state’s second try

Tennessee tried a similar law calling for misdemeanor criminal penalties, fines and license revocation in 1983. It was never enforced because the U.S. Justice Department said parts of it conflicted with federal law, said Dan Bailey, general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Three years later, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which outlawed knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and created the I-9 form.

But officials didn’t stringently enforce the law, and both employers and employees found creative and sometimes criminal ways around it, said Jessica Vaughan, a senior policy analyst with the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies. The center advocates for stricter immigration policy and enforcement.

“What you got was a situation where Social Security numbers became black-market commodities,” said Vaughan, an advocate of E-verify.

Who is an employee?

Another potential way around Tennessee’s new law lies in just who is an employee.

In Tennessee, as in most states, the number of people who work as independent contractors in a variety of industries is growing. In 2000, there were 194,497 self-employed individuals. By 2006, that figure is estimated to have grown 12 percent to 218,465, according to U.S. Census data.

While the increase in self-employed individuals cannot be attributed to illegal immigration alone, there are industries ? such as construction, commercial cleaning and landscaping ? in which subcontractors and even independent contractors are more common at job sites than traditional employees. In 2006, half or more of the workers in the construction and hospitality industries were foreign-born, according to U.S. Department of Labor Statistics data.

Some of these workers are legal. Some are not.

Spring Miller, an attorney with Southern Migrant Legal Services, fears that some employers will feel emboldened by the new law and exploit immigrant workers. Others, afraid of the law and its penalties, will simply refuse to hire anyone who looks or sounds foreign, Miller said.

“We just hope that the (labor) department would continue to enforce protections for all workers regardless of immigration status,” Miller said.

The 12 inspectors who this year handled the state’s 2,514 child labor and unpaid-wage investigations will have to add enforcing Tennessee’s new law to their responsibilities in 2008, Bailey said. The legislature provided no additional resources.

Sen. Ketron said he would closely watch what happens and “stand ready to amend any section of the law that isn’t working.”