As state lawmakers hammer out immigration issues at the Capitol, Cobb County lawmakers are strengthening the county’s stance against illegal immigration by participating in a federal partnership aimed at hiring legal workers.
As early as next month, Cobb could apply to become the first Georgia municipality in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers program. Working with ICE, employers — including local governments — can sign up to use government tools to perform their own employment audits.
The IMAGE program, launched in 2006, is designed to help employers follow immigration laws, strengthen hiring practices and ensure a legal workforce by identifying fraudulent employment documents and preventing illegal workers from getting jobs.
For Cobb County Commissioner Bob Ott, the county’s participation is about getting Georgians back to work.
Cobb has become known throughout the area for its participation in ICE’s 287(g) program that allows jail deputies to screen inmates to determine their immigration status. Inmates in the country illegally are handed over to ICE for possible deportation.
Cobb and Gwinnett are the only metro counties participating in that program.
But Cobb’s reputation took a hit last year when illegal workers were found to be working on the county’s new courthouse.
“This is not about enforcement and deportation,” Ott said. “This is purely about certifying that the people we hire as a county and, ultimately, the contractors that do work with us are hiring people that are legal to work.”
Ott, a Delta Air Lines pilot representing the southeast Cobb area, recommended the county enroll in the program during the commissioners’ annual retreat in February.
Under the program, employers must participate in the federal E-Verify program to ensure newly hired employees are eligible to work in this country and use the federal social security number verification service. Cobb already participates in the verification programs, so IMAGE could be implemented with no extra cost to the county, Ott said.
Employers must also adhere to IMAGE's best hiring practices that range from establishing a written hiring and employment verification policy to establishing a tip line for employees to report possible undocumented workers.
“You see the federal government battling Arizona regarding its legislation and, depending on what happens in Georgia, there could be a battle [here] too,” Ott said. “But IMAGE is a federal program and you get away from having to battle them.”
But adding another layer of bureaucracy for the county is unnecessary and amounts to political pandering, said Rich Pelligrino, executive director of the Cobb Immigrant Alliance. The group advocates for immigrants’ rights and has been active in recent protests against immigration legislation working through the state house.
“None of the databases are accurate, so running names and numbers through them hurt documented as well as undocumented workers,” he said. “This is not a solution and seems disingenuous. The solution is comprehensive immigration reform. You can’t keep putting Band-Aids on it.”
Cobb’s human resources director, Tony Hagler, has been tapped to lead the county’s IMAGE application process and is scheduled to meet with an IMAGE coordinator early next month.
Most IMAGE members are private companies and only two local governments — Hillsborough County, Fla., and the City of Palmdale in Los Angeles County, Calif. — are listed as members on ICE’s IMAGE website.
Hillsborough County, which includes the Tampa Bay area, enrolled in the IMAGE program in 2009 after finding that several of the county’s employment procedures weren't up to par, said George Williams, Hillsborough’s human resources director.
“IMAGE creates a sense of security,” he said. “Because of 9/11 a few years ago, I don’t want our hiring practices to be the gateway that allowed potential terrorists to be associated with our association and do harm to our government.”
ACCU Staffing Group, based southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia area, was the first company in New Jersey to participate in the program when it began almost two years ago, said company spokeswoman Laura Jaworski.
“It’s been a difficult playing field to get other companies to play by the rules when it comes to following federal and state laws for legal hiring,” she said.
ACCU serves about 300 clients a week with between 2,500 and 3,000 employees.
“We found that it deterred groups of illegal workers from coming in,” said Jaworski. “Word began getting out that we had a system that could detect a problem.”
Although not eligible for membership, the Georgia Police Accreditation Coalition has endorsed the program.
GPAC represents about 130 police and public safety organizations throughout Georgia. ICE has provided IMAGE training to members at GPAC conferences several times in the past two years.
“We provide resources for those who are trying to be better and being part of the IMAGE program allows for that,” said Cheri Pickard, GPAC’s president.
Cobb’s participation in the program is forward-thinking, said Pickard, who began her public safety career in Cobb.
“[IMAGE] addresses some of the immigration issues that are affecting everybody. When many agencies are going to contract workers, it ensures that government money provided by public citizens is going toward employees who are legally able to work here,” she said.
Once Cobb completes the application process, officials could then decide whether to require businesses doing work with the county to be certified, Ott said.
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