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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Do you favor an immigration ordinance for Gwinnett’s landlords?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People feel passionately about illegal immigration in Gwinnett, judging by comments posted on this blog.
Many of you blame a lot of our county’s problems on it.
For instance, when I asked “Who is committing the crimes in Gwinnett?”
Someone who used the initials “SBW” wrote: “I have daily e-mails sent to me about all arrests in my county via “scangwinnett” (an online police scanning site). 99% of them are Hispanic and many times 100% of them are Hispanic. That’s not being racial…that’s a FACT.”
When I asked “What code violators would you report?”
Someone who used the name “Meg” wrote: “It seems laws only apply to average American citizens and not to immigrants or the slave traders who hire them.”
When I said “Gwinnett’s growing population needs traffic relief,” I got this response from “EX Gwinnettian:”
“The illegal population had brought a big influx of traffic to Gwinnett. If they would do something about the clunkers without tags, etc. there might be less traffic. The illegals have also brought an extra “rush hour” traffic….around 8 pm after the construction jobs close.”
It sounds like you’re fed up and want something done about it.
Cherokee County recently passed an ordinance that would require landlords to gather and keep information on renters. When asked by the county, they would have to turn the information over for verification of legal status with federal databases, according to AJC reports.
Landlords who rent to illegal immigrants would risk have business licenses suspended. (Cherokee County commissioners also made English the official language of the county.)
But lawsuits filed against the ordinance have so far kept the county from enforcing it because of the threat of high legal bills.
I bet counties around the state, including Gwinnett, are watching closely to see how this story will play out. If this ordinance survives, there is little doubt that other counties will enact their own versions.
Gwinnett cannot control or enforce who crosses our borders, but if the common theme is “We want them out,” perhaps the county should look for way to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to live and work in Gwinnett.
But before you decide if Gwinnett should have a similar ordinance, I would ask you to consider two things:
Such an ordinance would mean that people would give up rights as private property owners.
And it would mean further governmental intervention in your lives, which, judging from your comments to this blog, is something you are vehemently against.
I’m sure I know the answer already, but would you support a similar measure here in Gwinnett County?
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