Opponents Expect Challenges to E-Verify in the Courtroom

(Springfield, MO) -- Businesses in Springfield will soon have to follow new rules.

Voters passed the controversial E-Verify ordinance Tuesday night, but it could face challenges in courtroom.

The ordinance will require businesses to use a federal system to check a person's eligibility to work in the United States.

Although voters okayed the issue, opponents expect Springfield's E-Verify rules to go to court.

Several of us lived in cities where there were large populations of illegal aliens," says Jerry Wilson, spokesperson for the Ozarks Minutemen, the group that sponsored the measure.

The E-Verify ordinance is on a path to more from idea into law.

"And we've seen what happens when those populations grow and unscrupulous employers are allowed to hire illegal aliens unchecked," said Wilson, just after the ordinance passed Tuesday. "We did not want that to happen to Springfield."

"I would be shocked if there weren't [legal challenges]," says Springfield City Attorney Dan Wichmer. "Every city that's passed it has been challenged."

As the city figures out how it will put the new law into place, it also faces lingering concerns that it brings the city into the courtroom.

"Quite honestly, I have concerns," says Wichmer. On Wednesday, he highlighted some of the possible ideas. "Federal law -- immigration law -- says that you cannot levee a civil or criminal fine. The bill calls for fines."

Wilson says the Ozarks Minutemen would have changed the ordinance had they known about that issue sooner.

"If there are any legal challenges to this, we hope that those challenges will be legitimate," he says. "We don't think we're going to see anyone be injured by this ordinance. We think there's the possibility of malicious lawsuits. We hope that doesn't happen."

Wilson is talking about groups that he believes are ideologically opposed to immigration regulations.

Meanwhile, it's now the city's job to defend the ordinance should it end up in court.