Another push to crack down on immigrants

YAKIMA, Wash. — A White Swan man is the latest to file an immigration-crackdown initiative -- an idea that failed for lack of support in 2007 and 2008.

Wendell Hannigan, who is also behind a guest worker proposal on the Yakama reservation, now wants a state law requiring employers to verify workers' legal status and have police notify federal authorities when they arrest undocumented immigrants.

The proposed initiative also requires proof of legal status to obtain driver's licenses and most public services, except for emergency medical care.

Hannigan's proposal -- filed Tuesday with the Secretary of State -- will go to voters if it gets 241,153 valid voter signatures by July 3. The likelihood of that largely depends on whether Hannigan can get widespread support or the funding to pay people to gather signatures.

Hannigan could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

His measure is identical to Initiative 409, which failed last year. It was backed by Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Washingtonians for Immigration Reform, and Grassroots of Yakima Valley.

Minuteman state director Joe Ray of Yakima said his group is working on another initiative this year. He does not know whether they will collaborate with Hannigan.

"I've got to do some research there," Ray said.

This is not Hannigan's first foray into the immigration controversy.

He is behind a plan to fingerprint and photograph all nontribal workers on the Yakama reservation and collect 50 cents for every hour they work. The tribe licensed his for-profit company, Schaptakay Labor Works, to carry out the guest worker program.

But it's unclear whether the program is legal or has the full support of tribal leadership.

More than 150,000 acres of apples, cherries, hops, asparagus and vineyards draw thousands of migrant workers to the reservation each year, and tensions there have been growing over undocumented workers.

Hannigan's proposed ballot initiative is the fourth submitted to the Secretary of State since the filing period opened on Jan. 5. The others are tax-related.

Last year only three of about 50 proposed initiatives made it on the ballot, including the Death with Dignity measure that was approved by voters.

In order to reach the November ballot, proposed initiatives need signatures from 8 percent of all voters from last year's guberna-torial race, said Secretary of State spokesman David Ammons in Olympia. It's recommended that proposal sponsors obtain about 300,000 signatures, though, to offset duplicate or invalid signatures.

Initiatives that go directly to voters are often used to address issues the state Legislature won't, Ammons said