City lacks power to regulate illegal immigrants
Courts have struck down attempts by local governments to handle illegals
By Jonathan Randles
Signal Staff Writer
jrandles@the-signal.com
661-259-1234 x519
Posted: Feb. 6, 2010 10:17 p.m.
POSTED Feb. 7, 2010 9 a.m.
Since the early 1990s, Santa Clarita officials have considered plans to address day laborers in the city, but the city can't do much to address the problem because issues related to illegal immigration are handled by the
federal government, city officials said.
In 1996 the Santa Clarita City Council adopted an ordinance that attempted to regulate day laborers in the city, said Mike Murphy, the city's intergovernmental relations officer.
"(The ordinance) prohibited individuals from soliciting employment while standing in the public right of way," Murphy said. "It also prohibited an occupant of any vehicle from soliciting any person standing in the public right of way."
Santa Clarita adopted the ordinance from Los Angeles County and other cities in Southern California with similar laws, Murphy said.
Federal courts determined the county's ordinance violated citizens'
First Amendment rights, Murphy said.
As a result, the
ordinance is not used by Santa Clarita, he said.
Murphy said he searched three years worth of e-mails, and letters sent to the city to see if there had been complaints about day laborers in the city. In that time there had been a "handful of complaints," he said.
Not all day laborers are here illegally, Murphy said. And even for those workers who are,
illegal immigration is not an issue for the city, but for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said.
"The issue of day laborers across the whole history of the city has been about trying to get our arms around it," Murphy said. "
Federal law is very clear, the authority for immigration law is with the federal government and not local municipalities."
Santa Clarita staff examined the day labor issue in addressed in 2005 after Councilman Bob Kellar "expressed concern regarding the day laborer situation in the city," according to a council report from January 2005.
Murphy said the city has
no estimates on the number of day laborers in Santa Clarita - the number is in constant flux, he said.
His best estimate for the number of illegal immigrants in the city is about 4 percent of the population - or about 7,000.
That is a rough estimate based on national trends, Murphy said.
At the City Council meeting on Jan. 26, a large crowd showed up, mostly to offer support for
Kellar who days earlier delivered an inflammatory speech at a rally protesting illegal immigration.
City Council candidate David Gauny told the council to take a stand on illegal immigration before April's council election.
Council candidate TimBen Boydston said he would support the creation of a citizens' task force that could make recommendations to Council members on how Santa Clarita can address local issues related to illegal immigration.
Murphy said occasionally the city will get calls from people asking what the city does to address illegal immigration in the city.
The answer is usually that
Santa Clarita's "hands are tied," he said.