CBS Atlanta Asks If GDOT Contractor Is Hiring Illegal Workers
Death of Sub-contractor Sparks Tough Questions About Hiring Practices

By Jeff Chirico, CBS Atlanta Investigative Reporter

ATLANTA -- A Georgia Department of Transportation contractor who is earning hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars refused to reveal whether a deceased worker was a legal immigrant.

Bromell Manicured Lawns of Conyers has a $530,000 contract with GDOT to mow, weed and pick up litter along miles of state roads. Company owner Michael Steven Bromell signed an affidavit agreeing to verify each of his employees' legal status. But when we asked him to show us the records for one worker, he and his staff avoided our questions.

The CBS Atlanta investigation started after a Bromell employee was hit and killed by a motorist while trimming weeds along Freedom Parkway.

Georgia's Security and Immigration Compliance Act, passed in 2007, requires each government contractor verify on a federal database that each employee is allowed by law to work in this country.

Although GDOT requires its contractors to sign an affadavit agreeing to this practice, CBS Atlanta has learned there's little stopping contractors from hiring illegal immigrants anyway.

GDOT spokesman David Spear said, "we don't necessarily have the legal authority to go see an individual's work visa."

CBS Atlanta has learned the state attorney general is charged with enforcing the law.

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/24654353/detail.html