Thread: ALIPAC Taking Aim at Firms w/Illegal Workers (Exclusive)

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 570759.htm

Posted on Sat, Jan. 07, 2006
OBSERVER EXCLUSIVE

Group taking aim at firms with illegal workers

Immigration control organization's fliers ask employees to report employers to U.S.FRANCO ORDOÑEZ fordonez@charlotteobserver.com A Raleigh-based immigration control group wants U.S. construction workers to report bosses who hire illegal immigrants.

The Americans for Legal Immigration PAC plans to kick off a campaign next week geared toward reaching construction workers unhappy with employers who openly break immigration laws.

William Gheen, president of ALIPAC, said the group is putting the final touches on a bilingual, multicolor flier that will give workers step-by-step instructions on who to contact and what to say when reporting an employer to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
Members will be encouraged to put fliers on doors, offices, break rooms and work sites for workers and employers to see.

"The owner of a company who sees this at a work site will see that his American employees, as opposed to his illegal alien employees, are unhappy and that he could be facing enforcement," Gheen told the Observer.

The push runs in conjunction with several recent initiatives nationwide from groups, including the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps and WeHireAliens.com, who want to force authorities to enforce existing laws.
Minutemen in Virginia, for example, have begun staking out day-labor sites where illegal immigrants are known to congregate and videotape them as construction crews come to pick them up.

Schools, hospitals, law enforcement and public services are being strained because of illegal immigrants while taxpayers incur more costs and more debt, immigration reform groups say. And U.S. workers are being displaced and their wages driven down by cheaper illegal immigrant workers.

Paul Wilms, government affairs director for the N.C. Home Builders Association, said construction companies need to follow the law and he understands groups who want stiffer immigration laws. But he said the contributions of the Hispanic community outweigh the costs, noting a UNC Chapel Hill study released this week that stated Hispanics contributed $9 billion to the state's economy last year.

"The Latino workers are exceedingly important to the economy in North Carolina and the country," he said. "They're contributing to society. They're paying taxes. And I think North Carolina is better for it."
Gheen called the UNC report "propaganda" since it was paid for by the N.C. Bankers Association, which he said stands to profit from serving illegal immigrant customers.

Jeff Jordan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant special agent for North Carolina, said the agency would accept tips, but didn't know how it would respond. For the last few years, ICE has prioritized enforcement on companies involved with national security.
"It's a case-by-case basis," he said. "Each information is taken and acted on accordingly. We turn no information away."

Angeles Ortega-Moore, executive director of the Latin American Coalition, welcomes any effort to educate workers on their rights. Noting this week's UNC report, she said the state needs the workers to help communities. And she worries about what would happen to the state if they left, citing problems in California and Florida, where businesses are scrambling for workers.

"In the U.S., we're always going to be eating fruits and vegetables that are being picked by immigrants whether they're here or in an another country," she said. "It makes me wonder whether we're pushing out so much of the labor force here so that it's going to be outsourced as well."
Gheen disagrees. He believes the country would be better off without the burden.

"It's not something that Americans won't be able to overcome since we've gotten all these jobs done successfully for hundreds of years without 10 million illegal aliens in the country," Gheen said. "We'll be just fine."

For More Information
For more information on Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, call (866) 329-3999 or visit the Web site at www.alipac.us.

Hell yea! This is great. I will have to thank the writer.

What do you think of it?

W

Great article!

"In the U.S., we're always going to be eating fruits and vegetables that are being picked by immigrants whether they're here or in an another country," she said. "It makes me wonder whether we're pushing out so much of the labor force here so that it's going to be outsourced as well."

How can they outsource picking fruit????

TERRIFIC!

But this quote makes me FURIOUS:

Jeff Jordan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant special agent for North Carolina, said the agency would accept tips, but didn't know how it would respond. For the last few years, ICE has prioritized enforcement on companies involved with national security.
"It's a case-by-case basis,"

It's NO WONDER the problem is completely out of control. ICE is not even TRYING to get them. I realize they are understaffed but that's what we HAVE a Department of Homeland Security for. Where is all of there money GOING??? And, now we are going to have some CRONY of Bush's running ICE?? I can just IMAGINE the mess it will be in by the time we get rid of her.

This is a great article William!

I THINK IT'S GREAT WORK on YOUR part, Butterbean! Where did you find it??? You are GOOD!

I thought the ICE comment was well measured considering what we know about the administration's influence on them not to raid or fine right now.

That should change with time as the public reaction continues to grow.

I'm glad the ICE agent did not say what he was really thinking was the case.

I think this worksite flyer is going to be a really hot idea if we deploy it well.

W

Fantastic, William.

I've got a feeling you'll be hearing more about that biased UNC study as time goes on.

And, oh yeah, they spelled your name right this time.

Originally Posted by Darlene

Great article!

"In the U.S., we're always going to be eating fruits and vegetables that are being picked by immigrants whether they're here or in an another country," she said. "It makes me wonder whether we're pushing out so much of the labor force here so that it's going to be outsourced as well."

How can they outsource picking fruit????

She is saying, we will buy oranges picked by aliens in Florida, or oranges picked by Brazilians in Brezil. Americans have been disinclined to pay extra for "Made in the U.S.A. (by U.S. citizens)" ever since Sam Walton died.

That is exactly right, MinutemanCDC_SC! I was thinking about that the other day when I was shopping at Wal-Mart. They did NOT carry all of that crap made in China and God knows where else when Sam was alive. If memory serves me, they actually BRAGGED ABOUT THEIR PRODUCTS BEING MADE IN AMERICA. Boy, his GREEDY HEIRS have just taken an American institution and DESTROYED it.