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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Atlanta Seeks to Make Immigration-Related Complaint 'Moot'

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Atlanta officials on Monday asked a state immigration enforcement panel to hold off on pursuing a complaint targeting the city, saying they are preparing to repeal an ordinance that triggered it.

The complaint says a city ordinance violates a new state immigration enforcement law by allowing people to use Mexican matricula consular ID cards in city government transactions. New Georgia law says city officials may not accept such ID cards when people apply for public benefits.

Anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King filed the complaint in February with the Immigration Enforcement Review Board. That panel is empowered to crack down on state and local officials who fail to enforce Georgia's anti-illegal immigration laws.

In its written response to the complaint Monday, Atlanta officials said the City Council adopted the ordinance in 2004, about seven years before Georgia enacted its new immigration enforcement law, also called House Bill 87. The ordinance was not “formally incorporated” into the city’s code of ordinances and is preempted by the uniformity clause of the state Constitution, Atlanta officials said in their response.

Last week, Councilman H. Lamar Willis introduced a measure to repeal the ordinance, city officials said, and that issue is expected to come before the council for a vote on April 16. Repealing the ordinance would make the complaint “moot,” the city said in its response.

An Atlanta spokesman said this month that city employees "who handle public benefits have been trained on what is an acceptable form of ID and the matricula consular is not one of them." The matricula consular card is issued to Mexican nationals by the Mexican government through its consulate offices and is not related to the holder's immigration status.

Ben Vinson, chairman of the Immigration Enforcement Review Board, said in an email Monday that he had received the city’s response but had not yet reviewed it.

Vinson's seven-member panel has the power to investigate complaints filed against city, county and state officials, hold hearings, subpoena documents, adopt regulations and hand out punishment. That punishment could include loss of state funding for government agencies and fines of up to $5,000 for officials who "knowingly" violate the laws.

The board stems from HB 87, much of which went into effect July 1. Deal signed the measure into law in May. The panel's members were appointed by Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston, all Republicans.

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