Immigration

E-Verify now a must for larger firms (01/25/12)
Businesses that employ 500 or more people are now required to either use the online E-Verify program to check the citizenship status of newly-hired employees, or else ask for and keep a file copy of verifying documents, ranging from a driver's license to a U.S. birth certificate to a green card...

Tracy-sponsored immigration, drug laws in effect Jan. 1 (12/23/11)
Two laws resulting from bills sponsored by State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) will take effect Jan. 1; one relates to verifying the immigration status of employees, while the other has to do with prescription drugs at pain clinics. "Both of these new laws will have a positive impact on Tennessee," said Tracy in a news release. "The new E-Verify law has been successful in other states to help ensure that those working in Tennessee are here legally...

ICE won't comment on arrests (09/29/11)
A spokesman for federal immigration authorities could not confirm whether the arrests of three people in Shelbyville last weekend was part of a nationwide sweep of criminals who are in the country illegally. More than 2,900 convicted criminal aliens and fugitives were nabbed in all 50 states by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it was announced Wednesday. The arrests were the results of a seven-day national "Cross Check" operation...

Hispanics fear arrest, group says (09/23/11)
Hispanic residents of Shelbyville claim they continue to live in a "climate of fear and intimidation," according to a Nashville-based immigrant advocacy group. The claims follow a raid conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last Saturday that resulted in the arrest of three Bedford County residents...

Racial discrimination denied by city, county authorities (09/21/11)
Officials are denying that a federal raid targeted community activists who claim a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination in Bedford County against Hispanics. The accusations came after the reported arrest of three residents by federal immigration officials and the publication of a report calling for a Department of Justice investigation...

Hispanics now 20% of city (03/18/11)
The newest U.S. Census figures for Shelbyville and Bedford County are out, and they show some significant demographic changes. The detailed data about population totals and demographic characteristics were given to Tennessee's governor and state legislature on Wednesday, which will be used by state officials to realign congressional and state legislative districts by accounting for changes in the population since the 2000 Census...

Immigrants feel new law's chill (03/09/11)
A local chapter of a statewide activist group claims that a new Tennessee law has resulted in a tenfold increase in the number of inmates being held for federal immigration authorities. However, Sheriff Randall Boyce said he is simply following the new rules, confirming that many more individuals are being turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Tyson joins legal labor agreement (01/21/11)
Tyson Foods announced Thursday that the company was becoming a full partner in a federal program that will insure that the people they hire are legally authorized to work in the United States. During a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., Tyson Foods became the first major food company to become a full member of the IMAGE program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Illegals, drunks will feel new laws (01/04/11)
Bedford County is ready to enforce a couple of new laws on the books this year, including one impacting those who can't prove they are in the country legally. But the sheriff wonders how the feds are going to be able to keep up with all the people who will get reported under the new law...

GOP candidates argue over immigration bill (06/11/10)
On Wednesday, the Tennessee Senate and House approved a bill which requires jails in Tennessee to send information to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding prisoners who don't have documentation that they are in the U.S. legally. State Sen. ...

Law-abiding foreigners aren't targets (06/09/10)
Proposed state legislation that would require jailers to learn if inmates are in the country illegally and, if so, deport them is being looked at by local law enforcement. However, the only folks in Bedford County with anything to worry about are criminals, according to the sheriff...

English bill move upsets advocates (06/04/10)
NASHVILLE -- Last minute changes to a bill addressing when employers can require their workers to speak English has upset an influential immigrant advocacy group that agreed not to oppose the measure. The bill adopted on Thursday was stripped of language that clarified when workers can and cannot be compelled to speak English. That was replaced with a brief paragraph stating that English-only policies are not discriminatory where there are legitimate business reasons for them...

Helping hands aid future Americans (05/25/10)
Dozens of Shelbyville's legal immigrants gave a hand Saturday to those who want to become legal citizens. A free workshop that offered legal guidance to qualified individuals and families who want to become American citizens was hosted Saturday at the Chamber of Commerce by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, or TIRRC...

Statutory rape admission could result in deportation (04/18/10)
A Shelbyville man faces possible deportation after pleading guilty to statutory rape on Friday. Tomas Felipe Bartolome, 21, will serve one year, six months at 30 percent on the charge, and Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency also has a hold on him, meaning that Bartolome will likely be removed from the country...

Deported offender returns, gets into further trouble (03/25/10)
The co-owner of a Shelbyville restaurant, who police say is illegally in the United States after having been deported two months ago, has been charged with violation of child abuse sex registry laws. Roberto Javilar Ramirez, 46, of Bethany Lane allegedly was living and working too close to a licensed day care center after a sexually-related conviction and was not registered with the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry as required by law, Detective Sgt. ...

Tyson defends hiring practices, works with refugees (03/28/08)
Tyson Foods officials have been working with the imam of Shelbyville's Islamic mosque to bridge the cultural gap that exists between the Somali community and the rest of the public. Representatives of the company also dismissed lingering charges of Tyson hiring illegal immigrants as "myths and misconceptions."...

Nashville center strives to help Shelbyville Somalis (03/24/08)
For the Somali Community Center of Nashville, Fridays are generally known as "Shelbyville Day." That's when carloads of Somali refugees from Bedford County head to the city for assistance from the center, which provides social services and advocacy "to meet the needs of refugees and immigrants in a culturally sensitive manner," according to program coordinator Kerry Foley...

Seminar in Murfreesboro focuses on Somalis (03/24/08)
MURFREESBORO -- "There will always be change." Those were the words of Salaad Nur, a Somali immigrant who spoke Thursday evening at Middle Tennessee State University to a group of students about the refugees who have moved to this state after fleeing their war torn country...

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