Thread: Norman: Illegal workers on his site show need to secure bord

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/my ... 689432.htm

Posted on Thu, Oct. 05, 2006

Norman: Illegal workers on his site show need to secure borders
SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The discovery of illegal immigrants on a job site owned by Republican U.S. House candidate Ralph Norman's development company underscores the federal government's failure to secure the borders, his campaign spokesman said Thursday.

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer discovered illegal immigrants working at sites Norman's company is developing in Rock Hill, according to an article to be published Friday. Signs at the job sites bear the Warren Norman logo. Two employees at one site and a third at a site across the street told the Observer they're in the country illegally from Mexico.

Norman, a Rock Hill developer and freshman state lawmaker, has made immigration a central issue in his campaign to unseat Democratic incumbent congressman John Spratt. In Norman's TV ads, he pledges to "reject amnesty and instead fight to control our borders."

The discovery of illegal immigrants working on land owned by Warren Norman Co. will not change his campaign tactics, spokesman Rob Godfrey said.

"This is an illustration of the problem Ralph is going to Congress to fix," he said. "The federal government has failed to secure the borders, failed to stop the flow. ... The federal government has put the burden on the small business people to be immigration enforcers."

Godfrey said he was unsure who contracted the work on land owned by Norman's company or who employs the immigrants.

The Warren Norman Co., run by Ralph Norman and founded by his father in 1948, has nine employees and subcontracts its development work, Godfrey said.

"We follow the law as well as what law there is," Norman told The Associated Press during an interview in August. "The problem is we've had no law for the most part."

Norman said his company doesn't get involved in who subcontractors hire and won't. "We don't get into that much detail. It's up to them to hire their people." Asked in August if he would fire subcontractors if he learned they employed illegal immigrants, he said he didn't know. "We've had people over the time that if we found were not legal, we didn't keep them."

Godfrey said the Warren Norman Co. has five ongoing projects. He knew of no federal immigration violations against the company.

According to a state incident report obtained by The Associated Press, the Warren Norman Co. was cited last spring by the Department of Health and Environmental Control for workers burning mobile home materials. The report says an anonymous caller alerted authorities to a group of Hispanics stripping mobile homes and burning the materials on a site near Rock Hill. Godfrey did not know whether the workers were illegal or whether they were fired.

Spratt and Norman were at a debate in Sumter on Thursday night.

At a debate Monday in Newberry, Norman again hammered on the issue. He said illegal immigrants cost society and contribute to rising health care costs. He told of visiting a hospital recently and seeing Hispanics in the waiting room. He said he assumed they were illegal.

"Talk to your doctor in Newberry and see how he's been overburdened with medical malpractice," he told the audience at the debate. "Talk to your doctor about illegal aliens he's having to treat."

He said immigrants should be tracked and businesses who hire illegals should be fined.
Click here to find out more!

Well, the Charlotte Observor actually put this on the front page this
morning. Why? A good chance to bash a Republican!

Their usual front page "immigrant" stories are bleeding-heart crap
about the plight of poor immigrants. They seldom use the word illegal.

I have to get out the hip waders wave the BS flag on this one.

Norman said his company doesn't get involved in who subcontractors hire and won't. "We don't get into that much detail. It's up to them to hire their people." Asked in August if he would fire subcontractors if he learned they employed illegal immigrants, he said he didn't know. "We've had people over the time that if we found were not legal, we didn't keep them."

If the workers told the reporter that they were illegal and from Mexico - it doesn't sound like a big secret. Any prime contractor has the right to set requirements on subs. Most of the time, the sub that submits the cheapest bid gets the work, and in order to that they pay their people hunger wages. Many big construction companies use the same subs all of the time.
Getting a no match letter back from the SSA on an employee that doesn't speak english very well or at all is a dead give away, unless they pay cash and don't submit them. I guess the employers don't care that the people they hire are not only in the country illegally, but are perpetrating identity theft as well. The same old story of the sub/agency supplied the workers and we just didn't know.

"We follow the law as well as what law there is," Norman told The Associated Press during an interview in August. "The problem is we've had no law for the most part."

They could voluntarily check the social security numbers against the national data base.

People like him hire subcontractors and then blame them for hiring illegals and then claim that they didn't know anything. It's the story you hear all the time from many construction companies. When they were building the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, ICE caught many illegals on the job site. The sick part is the subcontractors would hire illegals to replace the detained ones thinking that they would get away with it. ICE shows up again less than a month later and picks up more. This happened about 3 or 4 times and the subcontractor got away with it.
The one I can't wait to see is when ICE raids the Trump construction sites. This will make headline news. The one site consists of mostly illegal Mexican workers. This site also happens to be in the county where Trump is suing the Sheriff's business associates and friends. To speed things up, maybe I should give him a call and see the raid happen sooner.

Originally Posted by swatchick

To speed things up, maybe I should give him a call and see the raid happen sooner.

Go for it swatchick.

I will see some of the higher ranking deputies on tuesday and will mention it to them. There are some guys there that are looking for promotions and they will relay the message.

People like him hire subcontractors and then blame them for hiring illegals and then claim that they didn't know anything.

The most common ploy known to every American citizen.