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Immigration debate carries on in construction industry
By DIANA SAMUELS, The Daily Transcript
Thursday, August 31, 2006

While many involved in the immigration debate say their priority is cracking down on employers of illegal immigrants, contractors say it's unfair to punish them for unknowingly hiring undocumented workers.

"Everyone's accusing the employers of being the cause of the problem," said Dukie Valderrama, owner of A-D & D Drywall Inc.

Though his company has never had trouble with immigration authorities, Valderrama said employers are not unilaterally responsible.

The California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors does not have an official stance on the immigration debate, but its director of government affairs, Dave Louden, said they all agree that employers should not be punished for unknowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

"It should be up to the federal regulatory officers and law enforcement officers to enforce the law, not trade contractors," Louden said.

An immigration bill that passed the House last December and is one of two competing immigration reform bills currently in Congress would increase punishments for employers of illegal immigrants.

San Diego contractors who have had employees arrested said their companies followed regulations and checked paperwork, but it is impossible to tell when documents are fraudulent.

"The government is making it very tough for business owners like myself to hire people," said Dominic Burtech of Burtech Pipeline Inc. "The IDs that are out there are such good Ids ... normal people, even the smartest people in the world, can't tell that they're fake."

Agents arrested 22 of Burtech's workers in June. The Encinitas-based company ultimately replaced about 30 of its 200 workers, Burtech said. When his workers were arrested, Burtech learned many of them would cross back and forth across the border every day with their fraudulent documents.

"If our borders can't tell which papers are fraudulent and which aren't, and they're trained by the government," he asked, "how do they expect a small business to tell?"

Immigration agents also audited Poway-based Benchmark Landscape Cos. about seven years ago. The company had to fire about 90 of its 300 employees, said President John Mohns. Random audits are unfair to employers, he said.

"Not only did I lose great workers," he said, "they just walked down the street and gained employment with our competitors."

Benchmark lost money for two years, and his worker injury costs "skyrocketed" because he hired new employees, he said. His company checks documents and follows regulations, he said, but there's no sure way to tell if documents are valid.

"My concern is I want to have the confidence that my workers are legal, and I'm not sure they are," Mohns said.

A national database to verify potential employees' legality might be a solution, he said, as long as it was comprehensive and all businesses were required to use it.

Mohns said he employs about 40 workers under H-2B guest worker visas, in an effort to try different ways of maintaining his workforce, but the visas are only valid for 10 months out of the year, while the Southern California landscaping business is year-round.

Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. suggests a broad guest worker program, like the one proposed in the Senate's immigration bill, should accompany immigration enforcement, said George Hawkins, president and CEO of the San Diego chapter. Provisions should be put into effect to stop fraudulent documentation and employers should have a way to verify potential employees' documents, he said.

"We believe that the unlimited flow of illegal people entering this country needs to be stemmed," he said. "There's no question that illegals are flooding the market."

The issue of hiring is broader than immigration, though, Hawkins said.

"We've been short of new people in the industry for a long time, and we need to do something about that," he said.

"It's getting harder and harder to find workers," Mohn added. "The schools have shut down their technical training classes ... Parents would never tell their kids to go into the construction industry."