By BOB LOWRY
Times Staff Writer bob.lowry@htimes.com

Panel to adviselegislators on howto address issue

MONTGOMERY - A Falkville couple told a legislative committee Wednesday they are about to go bankrupt and lose their home to foreclosure because illegal immigrants have flooded the job market.

June and Thomas Lawrimore told members of the Joint Interim Patriotic Immigration Commission that they are on the brink of financial disaster.
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Lawrimore, 45, an unemployed construction worker, said he once earned $18 to $20 an hour as a foreman until the arrival of undocumented workers who are willing to work for much less.

"I am one of the thousands of unemployed Alabamians because they are coming into this country illegal and taking my job," he said.

The commission is trying to develop recommendations on how the Legislature should deal with illegal immigration. The task force plans to have its recommendations ready for the next session starting Feb. 5. Later in the hearing, the commission reversed an earlier decision and agreed to hold public hearings in Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile.

Lawrimore said he had no problem with legal immigrants, but said the federal government should move swiftly to deport undocumented workers.

"George Bush has failed America; he is a failed president," said Lawrimore. "I give him an 'F'. Every person on George Bush's staff has left him. That's because he's on the wrong side of America."

Lawrimore said he and his wife, who works for a door manufacturer, are about to lose their house and their vehicles, but, "We're prepared to start all over."

Byron McCain, a state official who heads a program that trains craftsmen for the construction industry, said there is a need for workers in that industry.

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