County to begin immigration audit next month

Published Thu, Feb 14, 2008 12:00 AM
By MICHAEL WELLES SHAPIRO

Beaufort County will start auditing businesses' immigration documents early next month, county administrator Gary Kubic said Wednesday.

Kubic made the announcement during a meeting of the Beaufort County Council's Community Services and Public Safety Committee.

The biggest hurdle left for the county is to finalize a contract with a private firm that will examine employers' federally required I-9 forms.

Kubic said he has reached a tentative agreement with Hilton Head Island-based Advance Point Global, a security firm specializing in investigative services, according to its Web site. Kubic said the first year of the contract would probably cost the county between $150,000 and $175,000.

Kubic said he was impressed by the company, formed by Andrew Patrick, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, and Lawrence McElynn, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

"They have been doing interviews ... for well over 30 years each," Kubic said, "so they are very qualified in terms of sitting down with individuals and having discussions and gathering information."

Councilman Rick Caporale, who represents Hilton Head, had a basic question for Kubic about employers who hire illegal immigrants: "How do you catch them?"

Kubic said the county will check that I-9s, are being retained by businesses, a federal requirement. I-9s typically include a worker's name and Social Security number.

When questioned whether the county would check to see if names and Social Security numbers matched using a federal database, Kubic deferred.

But, Kubic said -- while holding an I-9 form over his head -- "we have businesses who don't even have these."

He said he'd received "a rash of calls," from businesses asking for the forms. "It's humorous because it's the first thing you get when you start a business," he said of the calls.

Councilman Stu Rodman of Sea Pines said he thought the firm would scare a lot of businesses straight.

"If they (investigators) sit down across the table from the president of a company, they're going to get a pretty good feel from looking in his eyes of whether he's lying or not lying, and it's probably going to put the fear of God in a lot of them."

Kubic said he hoped to complete between 500 and 550 audits of the more than 4,000 businesses licensed to work in unincorporated parts of the county by the end of the year.

Kubic also mentioned the General Assembly's efforts to pass an immigration bill. Some members of the council have expressed concern that a section of that proposal stops local governments from enforcing ordinances that are tougher than state law.

Kubic said the county couldn't wait any longer to act, but "if we have to pull the plug, we pull the plug."

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/191949.html