Published: 03.17.2007
Illegal immigrant fired by Az House after sanctions OK'd
PAUL DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX - One day after the Arizona House approved a bill targeting employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, the legislative chamber announced Friday that it had fired an employee after it was determined that he was an illegal immigrant. A part-time housekeeper was fired Thursday evening after he told a supervisor that he was an illegal immigrant, the House said in a statement released late Friday.
The employee had been asked to provide documentation when a verification check found that his name did not match Social Security records.
Employment of illegal immigrants is a hot-button political issue in Arizona because such hirings are blamed for encouraging people to sneak across the border. The Pew Hispanic Center has estimated that illegal immigrants account for one in 10 workers in Arizona.
The fired employee was identified by House spokesman Barrett Marson as Gilberto Melendez, 17, of Phoenix. Marson said he did not have contact information for Melendez.
The man was hired in December and Marson said House officials had no explanation why the mismatch of Social Security information was not detected earlier.
He said the checks are supposedly to be conducted monthly by the Department of Administration and that the department reported the mismatch to the House on March 8. An Administration Department spokesman did not immediately return calls for comment late Friday.
Marson said House officials reported the matter to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on Friday. A sheriff's spokesman, Lt. Paul Chagolla, said late Friday he had no immediate information.
On Thursday, the House approved, 46-13, a bill that would prohibit employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and require businesses to sign affidavits saying they aren't breaking such a rule.
The proposal also would require state and local governments to use a federal database to verify whether their new employees are eligible to work in the United States.
The Social Security verification check that resulted in the firing was conducted under an executive order issued in October 2005 by Gov. Janet Napolitano for state employees. Napolitano's order also required state contractors to guarantee their employees aren't illegal immigrants and to let state agencies inspect employment eligibility records for those workers to check compliance.
"The Social Security verification program works and this is proof," House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, said in the statement announcing the firing of the House employee.
The House did not knowingly hire the illegal immigrant "and he no longer works for the House," Weiers said. "Most importantly, to those who say verification creates a burden, this unfortunate incident shows that the verification program works."
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