Thread: AL: Swear not to hire illegals, Brooks urges contractors

Swear not to hire illegals, Brooks urges contractors
Thursday, August 16, 2007
By STEVE DOYLE
Times Staff Writer steve.doyle@htimes.com
Proposal appears to have enough support to pass

Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks wants county government contractors to swear under oath that they do not employ illegal immigrants.

Brooks' proposal, which will be discussed at Friday's commission meeting, would require county vendors to sign a statement that they have checked Social Security numbers to make sure employees working on county business are in Alabama legally.

To verify, the county's purchasing department would be allowed to look through those companies' personnel records. Vendors found to have illegal workers on the payroll would have to turn them over to federal authorities, or risk losing their county contract.

Meanwhile, Huntsville City Councilmen Bill Kling and Glenn Watson said they may introduce an ordinance requiring city business owners to have identification issued in the United States.

Brooks, a Republican who represents much of southeast Huntsville and Hampton Cove, said local governments have to try to stem the tide of undocumented laborers because Congress seems unwilling to act.

"This is a step that will make it less economical for our suppliers to hire illegal aliens," he said Wednesday, "and help ensure that they hire American workers first."

His proposal appears to have the votes needed to pass. A majority of the rest of the commission - Republicans Faye Dyer and Dale Strong, and Democrats Bob Harrison and Roger Jones - said they are inclined to support it.

"If enough county commissions and city councils get involved in this issue," Dyer said Wednesday, "maybe Washington will finally see the light and decide it's important enough to the voters that they'll do something."

Last year, Dyer suggested the county make prospective business owners promise in writing not to hire undocumented workers. After lots of debate, commissioners passed a resolution simply asking state and federal officials to enforce immigration laws already on the books.

"There was some discussion that (a no-illegals pledge) was not a thing we could legally demand," Dyer said. "But the feeling I get from my constituents is that they'd like us to try. Why go through all this security at the airport if we're not going to do it on our southern border?"

Harrison, the commission's point man on outside contractors, said he has not read Brooks' proposal but agrees that county vendors should follow state and federal law.

"If what Mo is proposing is a declaration from vendors that they are complying with the law É*we'd have to go ahead and adopt that," he said Wednesday.

The county pays about $50 million a year to contractors who supply everything from jail toothbrushes to fence posts lining rural roads, Harrison said.

Brooks said his policy, modeled after one in Gwinnett County, Ga., would also apply to subcontractors and temporary agencies used by county vendors. Companies that lie about not using illegal workers could be charged with perjury, he said.

Commissioner Jerry Craig, a Democrat, said he is open to considering Brooks' idea but has been told some county vendors may have trouble operating under the guidelines.

"All of our folks need to be legal," Craig said Wednesday. "Something needs to be done, but I'm not sure exactly what. I don't feel like there's anything the commission can do to override state and federal law."

Friday's meeting starts at 10 a.m. on the seventh floor of the county courthouse.

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/ ... xml&coll=1

Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks wants county government contractors to swear under oath that they do not employ illegal immigrants.

I like to see local governments take all actions possible to thwart hiring illegals. But I question whether an employer who will hire an illegal in the first place will have any compunction about signing such a declaration. There is a saying that 'a law is only as good as its enforcement remedy.' I don't see any consequences serious enough here to promote compliance. But.....we have to admire Alabama's tenacity; they are leading the pack with their efforts to maintain control over their state. It must be a Jeff Sessions thing.

Mo Brooks is a wonderful man. His daughter was rendered disabled for the rest of her life because of an illegal alien. You must act locally. In the first four days of Athens, Alabama bagged 54 cars for driving without a license or insurance. We don't want them here and I do hope they are getting the message.