Thread: Man Urges Restaurants Not To Hire Illegal Immigrants

Immigration Opponent Says Workers Pose Health Risks

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- One day after nationwide rallies on immigration policy, the status of illegal immigrants continued to generate heated debate Tuesday.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported Tuesday that those who oppose amnesty for illegal aliens are raising their voices.

Residents will discuss Article 12 at a town meeting in Framingham, which aims to keep illegal immigrants from working at restaurants. Local officials said that it's the jurisdiction of the federal government to keep tabs on illegal immigrants.

"They can have tuberculosis. They can have some other communicable disease and no one will even know. They are touching our food, and no one even cares," resident Jim Rizoli said.

Rizoli said that public health concerns in Framingham restaurants prompted him to submit Article 12. The article proposes that the licensee "shall not employ any person not present in the United States in compliance with applicable law."

John Stasik, a town official, said that the health risk claims are not legitimate and enforcing the measure would be impossible.

"There are some 1,500 restaurants in town. I can’t imagine the workforce that would be necessary to inspect all of them to make sure that every body at every restaurant was a documented citizen," he said.

"The message is that we don't want illegals working here -- especially in our restaurants and especially if they haven't been checked for diseases and those types of things. It's sending a message. We are putting them on notice that if you hire illegals, you are actually admitting that you are hiring people that could be a risk factor in the town," Rizoli said.

"I think the reality of sending the message that we don't want them here is very divisive and creates an enormous amount of animosity," Stasik said.

Copyright 2006 by TheBostonChannel.com.

Good post. People are beginning to take notice on the food/health issue.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com

Effort against illegals is nixed
By David McLaughlin/ Daily News Staff
Friday, May 5, 2006

FRAMINGHAM -- Town Meeting defeated an effort last night to ban illegal immigrants from working in the town's restaurants, rejecting an argument that they pose a public health threat.

The article -- written by Jim Rizoli of Precinct 14 -- would have required restaurant owners to promise to hire only legal workers, which Rizoli said was critical to protect people's health.

But several Town Meeting members did not buy that argument, countering the article was nothing more than an anti-immigrant proposal. Sidney Pires of Precinct 15, who is Brazilian, called it "racist."

"I see these articles targeting one group," he said, referring to a second Rizoli wrote targeting overcrowding.

The article would have added language to the town's food-service application forbidding an owner "in the interest of public health" to hire illegal aliens as a condition of the license. Town Meeting voted to refer the article back to the sponsor, essentially killing it.

Milford health officials have approved the exact same wording for their licenses, which Rizoli described as "an aggressive move by Milford to deal with the situation."

Those who enter the country illegally, he told Town Meeting, do not undergo medical checks to ensure they are healthy. He called the town's illegal immigrants "time bombs."

"This is about your protection and again being proactive....Let's try to stop an epidemic from happening in the beginning," he said.

The measure did have its supporters, including Town Meeting's public safety committee, which recommended passing the article.

"This is simple. It's a no-brainer," said Precinct 6's Antoinette Burrill, "and we need it for our loved ones."

But Health Director Bob Cooper said the public would be no safer with the article. Board of Health member Nelson Goldin also questioned how the office could enforce the article by investigating a person's immigration status. He called the article "an empty bluff."

During the debate, Rizoli insisted the article was not about immigration, a statement Dawn Harkness of Precinct 4 pounced on, questioning why then the article included such language. It would have prohibited "any person not present in the United States in compliance with applicable law" from working in a restaurant or other food-service site.

"You cannot buy this double-talk," she said. "Please, please stand up against this."

Town Meeting also voted down a resolution submitted by William LaBarge of Precinct 16 asking Congress to repeal "federal immigration laws governing border crossing and governing employers employing non-citizens of the United States of America."

(David McLaughlin can be reached at 508-626-4338 or at dmclaugh@cnc.com.)