Thread: Legislature Debates Levy’s Verification Bill

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Leg. Debates Levy’s Verification Bill


By Jeff Guillot August 30, 2006


Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s proposed bill, which would penalize and possibly prohibit businesses that cannot verify the legal status of their employees from doing business with the county, was debated at great length at the Suffolk County Legislature’s meeting on August 22. Fifty-seven speakers addressed the Legislature regarding this issue. The comments drew the meeting out well into the evening.

“That meeting really went on into the night,” said Legislator Jon Cooper (D-Huntington). “But it’s important that everyone gets a chance to be heard.”

As previously reported, the bill requires all firms that execute business contracts with Suffolk County to confirm the legal status of all of their employees. Failure to comply would be met with stiff economic sanctions, with the possibility of jail time for employers.

The crowd that gathered about this issue was mixed, with local union members and several other groups that are opposed to the legislation present at the meeting. A man dressed as Uncle Sam stood outside the Legislature building holding a sign that said “Welcome to America. Immigrants go home.” On the other side, a protester held up a sign of a Native American chief, under which was written, “Unless you’re a Native American, your parents were immigrants, too.”

“There was certainly a groundswell of different perspectives present,” Levy said. “Usually, the extreme anti-immigration crowd takes up the bulk of the seats at hearings on this issue, and I was glad to hear that the other side was also present, and able to make their voices heard.”

Shortly before the public hearing, Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) announced that this bill, along with 10 others, could not be voted on at the August 22 meeting. Due to a technical error in which a local paper did not print notices regarding some the Legislature’s public hearings, as required by law, the 11 bills could not be voted on and will be addressed at a special meeting to be held on September 5.

Robert DiCarlo, a former New York State senator who now resides in Stony Brook, spoke in favor of the bill, not because he agreed with its principles in their entirety, but because he believes federal officials are not doing their job when it comes to enforcing existing immigration laws. “It is a sad state of affairs when the federal government is incapable of giving out equitable justice,” said DiCarlo. “It is unclear to me how state and federal governments can choose to enforce some laws, but then turn a blind eye to others. I support this bill based upon a failure to act by New York State senators, and, even though I am a Republican, the biggest violator of all, President George W. Bush.”

Opposition to the legislation came from many people involved in civil rights and political organizations, and even those beyond the boundaries of Suffolk County. Initially, some members from the audience heckled these speakers, even shouting out “English please” when a woman attempted to speak in Spanish to illustrate a point. Police officials had to eject some individuals from the meeting.

Serge Martinez, associate professor of law at Hofstra University, had many issues with this bill, calling the wording “extremely vague, and entirely too broad.” Martinez said the language of the bill uses very loose terminology, and will allow for employers to interpret the meaning of this law at will. “Lawmakers walk down a very slippery slope by passing this bill because history tells us that laws that are easily malleable often lead to very frightening situations,” said Martinez. “In my opinion, the county executive is simply grandstanding here. This bill has no chance of actually working efficiently.”

Legislator Cameron Alden (R-Islip) agreed with Martinez’s final comment. “I think it’s apparent that Executive Levy is doing a lot of this to drum up publicity and get himself attention, but, at the same time, it’s attention that the issue is due because we need to solve it very soon,” he said. “It’s our duty to legal taxpayers to do that.”

Levy responded to allegations that the bill exists to gain publicity. “In this case, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t,” he said. “If I don’t put forth a bill to combat this issue, then people will say I’m pandering to the pro-immigrant crowd. When I do put forth legislation I’m apparently grandstanding. You can’t please everyone.”

Dr. Luis Valenzuela, who heads the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, also presented a statement before the Legislature, and focused his attacks on the detrimental effects the legislation could have on children. According to Valenzuela, children will face heightened discrimination if this bill becomes law, which will lead to “feelings of resentment and abandonment.”

However, Legislator Jack Eddington (WF-Patchogue), a former social worker, disagreed with Valenzuela. “Everywhere I go in my district, people complain about two things — school taxes and immigration,” Eddington commented. “Now, if a child’s parents enter this country illegally, the first lesson they teach them is to not honor the laws of this county. Then, they teach them that it’s okay to use the tax dollars of legal citizens to fund their education.”

Stating that approximately 10% of the young children in his district are undocumented, Eddington argued, “Wouldn’t you agree that teaching your child it’s okay to violate the law and steal from taxpayers is worse than feelings of abandonment?”

Challenging those who criticized his legislation, Levy said he still believes this is a good step toward addressing the issue. “If people have such an issue with this, I would like to see someone else find a better, more straightforward way to deal with illegal immigrants in the workforce,” he said. “I don’t see any other public officials coming out on this issue — they might be afraid, but I am not.”

I recieved a few calls today that the bill will pass! Next we are going to push for local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws, it's a long shot but Steve has talked about it........... We're Winning the war against Illegals one battle at a time