Panel hears bill to punish businesses that hire illegal aliens

Jan 16, 2008

Indianapolis - Companies could face strict penalties - including losing their business licenses - if they knowingly hire illegal aliens under a bill being considered by a Senate committee.

Bill sponsor Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, said Indiana is stuck with the public and social costs of illegal immigration because federal immigration law isn't being enforced.

"This bill is not about race," he said. "It's not about ethnicity. It's not about nationality. It's about one thing and one thing only: the respect for the rule of law."

Dozens of people attended a hearing on the bill in Senate chambers Wednesday, and more than 40 signed up to speak about the proposal. The meeting lasted nearly four hours and will be continued next week to accommodate those speakers - mainly opponents - who did not get a chance to address the panel.

Also next week, lawmakers could consider several amendments to the bill, including one that would make the law applicable only to companies with more than 100 employees. A vote could be taken next week, said Sen. Dennis Kruse, a Republican from Auburn who heads the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee.

The bill in current form would set up a three-tier punishment system for employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens after July 1, 2009. With three violations in 10 years, a company could lose its business license.

Sen. Tom Weatherwax, R-Logansport, said losing a business license is a serious matter, and wondered if the bill would have unintended consequences on Indiana's work force.

"We've got to think all these things through before we pull the trigger," he said.

But Delph said companies should have no excuses for knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

"If a business, after two warnings, doesn't get the message that violating the law is not going to be tolerated in the state of Indiana, they should lose their license," he said. "They should go out of business because they're not being good corporate citizens."

About 55,000 to 85,000 unauthorized aliens live in Indiana, according to 2006 estimates from the PEW Hispanic Center. Mitch Roob, secretary of the state Family and Social Services Administration, told lawmakers that Indiana taxpayers spend about $5 million a year for Medicaid health care for illegal aliens, with more money coming from the federal government.

Bill supporters said they were tired of illegal immigration going unchecked in their communities.

"The taxpayers of Indiana are paying money for illegal aliens that they shouldn't have to pay," said Robert Marsh, from Anderson. "We have a problem in Indiana."

Opponents, including some business groups and civil rights leaders, say the federal government should be in charge of immigration policy. Others said the bill would do little to stop the employment of illegal residents who use fraudulent documents to get work.

"This is not going to stop the root of the problem," said Rick Wajda, chief executive officer of the Indiana Builders Association.





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