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Ford jumps into immigration fray
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
June 09, 2006


Congressman Harold Ford Jr.’s campaign Thursday released documents it said prove that Bob Corker’s former construction company, Bencor Construction, was investigated for hiring illegal immigrants in the 1980s.

Earlier this week, Corker’s two Republican opponents opened up the battle front over immigration, making the first accusations that Corker’s firm hired illegal immigrants.

Corker denied any wrongdoing, instead passing the blame to a subcontractor that Bencor worked with, J&G Framing.

Ford campaign officials shared documents with The City Paper showing that in 1988 Bencor was mentioned in an INS investigation of J&G Framing.

Ford campaign spokesman Michael Powell said those documents “contradict Corker’s official explanation.”

“He didn’t deny that there were illegal workers on the construction site, but he basically blamed the subcontractor. And the INS documents clearly contradict that,” Powell said Thursday.

According to copies of the Feb. 10, 1988, INS “Memorandum of Investigation,” INS agents, responding to reports that “30 to 50 Mexicans (were) working at the Mud Island new building site…conducted an educational visit at the Mud Island office, Bencor. Educated all the subcontractors working on the site.”

The documents do not reveal if the INS took any further action.

The Ford campaign also provided work documents showing the 1988 address of Bencor to be 1030 Mud Island Road, Memphis, and that of J&G Framing to be 21914, Ralph Circle, Hockley, Texas.

“It’s clear from the documents that the INS opened up an investigation into Bencor, and I think that at best Corker is being disingenuous, and at worst he’s just outright lying,” Powell added.

As Republicans Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary did this week, Powell tried to use the immigration issue to discredit Corker, who is campaigning as a conservative with a strong anti-immigration background, and outspending all of his opponents advertising himself as such.

“The only thing the voters of Tennessee know about Bob Corker is that he’s put hundreds of thousands of dollars behind an immigration ad saying he’s tough on immigration,” Powell said. “But in fact in the late 1980s, he was cited by the INS for hiring illegal workers, and I think he owes the voters Tennessee an explanation.”

Corker campaign spokesman Ben Mitchell did not deny the authenticity of the documents, but questioned their relevance.

“The documents are consistent with media reports at the time in which the INS reported that Bencor bent over backwards to make sure that the subcontractors were complying with all rules and regulations,” Mitchell said Thursday.

“I think the fact that Harold Ford would make these kinds of baseless accusations based on photocopies of handwritten notes from almost

20 years ago indicates just how scared to death he is to face Bob Corker in a general election,” Mitchell added.