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Reilly reiterates stance on workers
Says state doesn't report immigrants
By Yvonne Abraham and Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | June 20, 2006

Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said yesterday it is not his responsibility to crack down on Massachusetts employers that hire undocumented immigrants, and he said he will continue his policy of taking no action against the companies.

In 2001, Reilly established a policy, saying his office would aggressively fight for the rights and wages of immigrant workers, legal or not, and promise not to report them to federal authorities.

He also said he would enforce wage and labor laws against companies, but not act against them for employing undocumented immigrants.

Yesterday he stood by that, even as a Globe story Sunday reported that undocumented immigrants were receiving wages from contractors on state-funded projects.

``In terms of immigration policy, that is the responsibility of the federal government, not the responsibility of the state government," Reilly said.

But Reilly is facing intense criticism for not doing more, from Republicans, labor leaders, and immigration-control advocates.

They said Reilly should report the companies to federal authorities and maintain a public list of firms that have used undocumented workers so government agencies and others can avoid using the companies.

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey , who, like Reilly, is a candidate for governor this year, said yesterday that the attorney general's approach ``has set the wrong tone in the Commonwealth."

``There hasn't been adequate oversight in the past," said Healey, a Republican. ``. . . In fact, the attorney general has had the practice of actually working on behalf of illegal immigrants rather than fining the employers who have hired these individuals. It's the wrong priority."

Republican lawmakers have drafted a measure that would require Reilly's office to set up a hot line to receive complaints about companies that hire undocumented immigrants and to report those companies to federal authorities.

``Clearly, the AG's office has some responsibility here," said Senator Bruce E. Tarr, a Gloucester Republican. ``He is charged with referring this information to federal authorities for prosecution."

A Massachusetts law states, in part: ``It shall be unlawful for any employer knowingly to employ any alien in the Commonwealth . . . who has not been admitted to the United States for permanent residence, except those who are admitted under a work permit."

That law was superseded by the federal 1986 Immigration Reform Act, which made imposing sanctions on employers who hire undocumented immigrants exclusively a federal responsibility, said several immigration specialists.

``There is not quite nothing he can do, but he is limited," said Rosemary Jenks , president of NumbersUSA, an immigration control group. ``But he could instruct state and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of immigration law, which is a mighty powerful message."

At the very least, said Healey campaign spokeswoman Amy Lambiaso , Reilly should share information with federal authorities.

``He should be acting as chief law enforcement officer of the state, working with [Homeland Security], alerting them to activity," she said. ``He's not doing anything right now except turning a blind eye to it."

Reilly characterized Healey's criticism as ``the same-old, same-old, pointing fingers and blaming someone else."

He said sharing information with federal authorities would send a chilling message to immigrants, and discourage workplace complaints.

Reilly called the issues raised in the Globe story ``serious." The story uncovered allegations about undocumented workers using phony Social Security numbers, including one instance in which a laborer helping to build the Middlesex jail used the obviously fraudulent 666-66-6666.

``It's ridiculous that anyone would accept that," he said.

He also said that the state and cities and towns should ``take a serious look at whether they should do business" with companies that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. But he said his office could do nothing other than enforce labor law violations.

``Everybody in the country, maybe with the exception of Kerry Healey, realizes that this requires a national solution," he said. ``You can't have 50 states going in 50 different directions.

``We don't check the legal status of any of these people," he said of workers who complain about labor law violations. ``We don't document what their status is."

Governor Mitt Romney also called for a federal solution. He said the federal government needs to develop a system where residency and citizenship documents are tamper-proof, and employers can tap into a nationwide verification network to check on employees' immigration status.

Although several lawmakers expressed interest yesterday in legislation making it a condition of state funding that contractors verify workers' immigration status, the governor said he doubted such legislation would be possible given the precedence of federal law on the issue of immigration.

The best way to prevent undocumented immigrants from finding work in Massachusetts is to make the state inhospitable to them, Romney said, citing his veto of a bill granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Christopher F. Gabrieli and Deval L. Patrick criticized the use of undocumented workers on state-funded projects, but offered no specific solutions.

Reilly stressed yesterday that his most effective tool against companies that hire undocumented immigrants is enforcing regulations that require them to pay those workers the prevailing wage.

Construction industry specialists say a key reason contractors hire the undocumented is that those workers are less likely to complain about being underpaid.

But several leaders of trade unions said yesterday that he has done an ``appalling" job at enforcing the wage standards.

Last September, the Masonry Industry Fair Wage Alliance wrote Reilly to say that he had resolved 14 of about 100 labor law complaints that the group has filed since 2000.

The alliance said it also had submitted to Reilly evidence of undocumented workers with bogus Social Security numbers on payroll records, but that he had done nothing about it.

``These unscrupulous business practices which continue to go unchecked are robbing job opportunities from union members and legitimate masonry contractors on a daily basis," Charles Raso, the chairman of the alliance, wrote on Sept. 22.

Tony Hernandez, an organizer for the Painters & Allied Trades District Council No. 35, also said yesterday that Reilly has dragged his feet.

``The attorney general is not doing his job," he said.

But Rick Grundy, chief of Reilly's business and fair labor protection bureau, defended Reilly's handling of labor complaints.

It is understandable that some unions are unhappy that it can take 18 months or more for labor complaints to be resolved if employers appeal citations, he said.

Last year, the attorney general's office received nearly 4,600 complaints of wage and hour violations, issued 231 civil citations, and assessed more than $190,000 in civil and criminal penalties, according to the office.

``What we do have the authority to do is enforce the wage and hour law, and by doing that we're taking away the incentive for employers to hire illegal immigrants," he said.

Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Washington, said his agency is well aware of the concerns over undocumented immigrants in the workplace, and is stepping up enforcement through workplace inspections.

He would not comment on what should happen in Massachusetts, though he urged local and state police to work with federal authorities.

``The immigration challenges were not created overnight, and will not be solved overnight," Raimondi said.

Scott Helman of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Yvonne Abraham can be reached at abraham@globe.com. Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.



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