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Hilton Head neighborhood targets illegals

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A Hilton Head Island community is considering ways to root out illegal immigrants by requiring residents to sign forms verifying their legal work status.

The Homeowners Association of Woodlake Villas, a 224-unit neighborhood off Mathews Drive, is moving forward with a plan to have all residents file signed I-9 forms with their leases to verify immigration status. The association's lawyer is

reviewing the proposal to see if it will pass legal muster, president Nancy Voegele said.

Voegele said the proposal grew out of concerns about overpopulation in the community. Members of the association's board suspect that eight to 10 people sometimes live in a two-bedroom villa, she said.

The overcrowding is putting a strain on the neighborhood's amenities and resources and raising concerns about crime, she said.

The association allows a maximum of four adults in a unit, but association members suspect about 10 units have many more people crammed in. The association typically responds by writing letters to the tenants or the rental manager, but that hasn't been effective, Voegele said.

Board members say the measure had nothing to do with race or discrimination against immigrants.

"We just have to solve this problem of over-occupancy," Voegele said. "I don't care who lives in Woodlake as long as they follow the rules."

Board members said they have reason to believe that some of the units are filled with undocumented residents because of run-ins with law enforcement. Member Donald Lee said there was a recent incident in which a woman was involved in a domestic violence situation but wouldn't call police because she and her husband were both in the country illegally.

"We have nothing against Hispanics," he said. "It's just the fact that we want to keep the crime in check."

But the proposed measure runs against recent court rulings, and observers say requiring the signed forms wouldn't pass any legal challenge. California last week became the first state to prohibit landlords from asking about tenants' immigration status. A federal court in July struck down an ordinance passed last year in Hazleton, Pa., that would have penalized landlords who rented to illegal immigrants.

Beaufort County last year originally considered an illegal-immigration ordinance that mirrored Hazleton's but watered it down after consultations with legal staff.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund sued the city of Escondido, Calif., over an ordinance it passed last year -- then quickly repealed -- forcing landlords to prove the legal status of tenants. Elise Shore, regional counsel for the fund's Atlanta office, said requiring signed I-9 forms is unjustified because the documents are solely for employment purposes and are not the ultimate arbiter of immigration status. The measure could also run afoul of privacy laws and would certainly raise discrimination concerns, she said.

"We know that this is probably a response to what people perceive as the federal government's inability to effectively enforce immigration laws," Shore said. "It does raise implications and civil rights issues because it could potentially have a disparate effect on Latino communities."

The federal government requires every new employee in the United States to complete an I-9 form. The forms require workers to verify they are either citizens or have permission to work in the country. But some people who are in the country legally might not be able to complete an I-9 form, said Melissa Azallion, an immigration attorney with Hilton Head law firm Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier. No single document can definitively prove legal status, she said.

Voegele said the association will abandon the effort if its lawyer determines the measure is not legal. But the community will keep trying to figure out how to solve its problems, including installation of a controlled-access gate system.

"It's not something that we're going to do and try to fight a big legal battle over," she said. "If this is not the way to do it, we have to find another way."

The issue will be discussed at the next board meeting Oct. 25 and will be presented at the full association meeting Dec. 1.

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