SPRING VALLEY - An undocumented immigrant day laborer who was hired to work a municipal project said yesterday that village Mayor George Darden was the one who hired him.

Felix Sandoval, a Guatemalan native, said he and some friends were in the parking lot of a Route 59 mall around 4 p.m. Sunday when a car drove up and a man addressed him.

"He came on Sunday in his suit," Sandoval said. "He came and he said to me, 'Do you work?' "

The village's use of undocumented workers - a violation of federal law - has been widely criticized by Lower Hudson Valley residents since it was first reported by The Journal News this week.

"He gave me a paper with how much he was going to pay us," Sandoval said, taking a handwritten note out of his wallet that read "$10 per hour 8 hours per day 1/2 hour off for Lunch - unpaid Lunch."

Asked whether he was sure it was Darden who approached him, Sandoval said yes and took one of the mayor's business cards out of his wallet.

Sandoval's friend, Adan Hernandez, said he saw the exchange. Hernandez doesn't speak English and didn't understand the conversation between his friend and the other man, but confirmed that the man in the picture on the card - Darden - was the one who came to inquire about workers.

"He was the one," Hernandez said in Spanish, pointing to the card bearing Darden's picture and Village Hall contact information.

Darden would not answer any questions about the situation yesterday. Village Attorney Bruce Levine also declined to comment.

On Tuesday, when The Journal News asked Darden who had given the order to hire the immigrants, he declined to answer the question, saying it was not important.

Asked whether he was aware that it was illegal to hire undocumented workers, the mayor told the reporter Tuesday that the federal government hadn't resolved the issue of immigration reform. He said he was providing work to "citizens of Spring Valley."

Sandoval said the mayor asked him to bring nine other men to work at the building at 65A N. Main St. Sandoval said he brought the required number of men, but that most of them left when they saw the condition of the building.

"Some didn't like the work," Sandoval said, because there was about a foot of foul-smelling, dark water in the basement. They thought that the water could be harmful.

Yesterday, Sandoval said, a village Department of Public Works employee paid them in cash for Monday and Tuesday's labor and told them there would be no more work because they were undocumented.

There was no activity at the site around 11:30 a.m. yesterday, and the doors were chained shut.

Around 8 a.m. the day before, a village DPW employee used a village truck to pick up two day laborers on Route 59 and drove them to the building, which is to be demolished under the village's urban renewal plan. The plan has received state and federal funding.

The workers told The Journal News that they were in the country illegally.

Asked why the day laborers were working on the village project, the DPW worker on the scene said he was following orders. He referred questions to Darden.

That worker's supervisor, Public Works Director John Ackerson, also denied issuing the orders to hire day laborers.

"I have nothing to do with it, that's all the mayor," Ackerson said Tuesday. "I was out. I just came back in today, but that is being handled by the mayor, that project."

Darden said Tuesday that the village tries to employ everybody from its diverse population during the summer, including day laborers.

Many in the community were outraged about the matter, saying Darden should not have provided work to people who are not legally allowed to work in the United States.

"There's plenty of people living out here who are living on the streets who are not illegal aliens who could do the jobs," village resident Quincy Curry said.

Bryan Wigfall, another village resident, also was disturbed.
"Bring the prisoners out here and let these cats go to work," he said. "Illegal aliens, yeah, that bothers me because these illegal aliens, they come here and they're snatching up all the jobs."

But Carlos Lemos disagreed.
"I'm in favor of immigrants because this is a country of immigrants and if there aren't immigrants, it will go under economically," said Lemos, a legal immigrant.

Several people have contacted this newspaper to ask how the workers were paid and whether the village had withheld taxes. They also wanted to know who would be held liable in the event of an accident at the work site.

The mayor, through Village Attorney Bruce Levine, declined to answer those questions.

Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno has said he did not know whether any crime had been committed, but that he would consult with the state Department of Labor. The state Attorney General's Office has not responded to two requests for comment.

Deputy Mayor Noramie Jasmine and Trustee Joseph Desmaret did not return messages seeking comment, and Trustee Philip Rosenthal was traveling and could not be reached for comment.

But Trustee Bettie Brown said the remarks the mayor made to The Journal News yesterday seemed "glib."

"I'm sympathetic (to) those who need work and need to make an honest living; however, I think that the remarks of the mayor seem to me to be very incriminating," Brown said.

Brown, an opponent of Darden's on the board, said she had not spoken with fellow trustees or the mayor about the matter.

"I don't talk to him. He and I rarely see eye to eye, governmentally. So when I have a variance of view with him, I do not discuss it with him because he doesn't listen or consider it or take counsel, so I just don't," Brown said. "I don't waste my time, don't waste my breath. He does what he thinks he ought to do."

Sandoval said Darden was a good man who cared about all people, regardless of their immigration status