Lonegan divides immigration activists
By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER

http://www.northjersey.com

The hiring of undocumented day laborers by Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan two weeks ago has come as a blow to those who prefer a hard line on illegal immigrants -- and as a boost to those who want more flexible immigration laws.

Activists and political officials who favor strict immigration laws say they're bewildered over the revelation that Lonegan, one of New Jersey's most vocal proponents for tough immigration enforcement, hired two illegal immigrants to assemble political signs for his taxpayer advocacy group.


Lonegan maintains that he asked the laborers if they had identification, and they assured him they did, though he did not ask to see it before hiring them. The laborers contend that Lonegan never asked for their ID.

And in a recent interview, Lonegan conceded that he could not vouch for the legal status of workers hired by his subcontractors during the years when he was a home builder. He said that since he did not directly hire the workers, he bore no responsibility for confirming their legal status.

"If you pick up somebody off the street, the likelihood is that most of them don't have legal documents, so why would he pick them up?" said Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello, another leading voice in New Jersey for tougher immigration enforcement. "I would not pick up one of the day laborers who stand by the Morristown train station. And I wouldn't expect [Lonegan] to look for day laborers, considering the comments he's made about immigration."

Gayle Kesselman, co-chairperson of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control, said she preferred to give Lonegan the benefit of the doubt. Kesselman met with Lonegan and other Bogota officials in the summer to persuade them to apply for a federal program that deputizes local police to enforce immigration laws.

"I know he's very devoted to this cause" of tougher immigration enforcement, said Kesselman, a Carlstadt resident. "I find it hard to think that he would go out knowingly to hire illegal workers."

Those on the other side of the immigration debate condemned Lonegan in more pointed terms, with many calling the mayor a "hypocrite."

"This couldn't have come at a better time, or from a better person than Steve Lonegan," said Lucilo Santos, president of the Dominican American Council of New Jersey. "This is a man who has devoted so much time and energy to maligning Hispanics and immigrants. He shows that not only is he willing to exploit these people for his political benefit, but also for personal gain."

"If that isn't a double standard, then what is?" asked Santos, who lives in Hackensack.

Amado Espana, a former day laborer from Palisades Park who founded an organization that fights on their behalf, said it is conventional wisdom among Bergen County employers that the men who stand on corners waiting for contractors are predominantly illegal immigrants.

"Of course, he had to know," Espana, a Guatemalan immigrant, said in Spanish. "In fact, it is the Steve Lonegans of this country who have made the day laborer the symbol of illegal immigration. But he is not alone in what he did. So many people who are hostile to illegal immigrants in general want them to cut their grass, clean their homes and wash their cars."

The controversy deepened as Lonegan, in published reports, offered different versions of how he encountered the two men. A story in The Record shortly after the incident reported that Lonegan said the men had approached his taxpayer advocacy organization looking for work. Later, he said he and an employee had found the men when they went to Palisades Park, a day laborer hub, to hire temporary workers.

Lonegan, a featured speaker at events where the hosts have called for the jailing of people who hire illegal immigrants, said he hired many Latino immigrants when he owned a cabinet-and-countertop manufacturing business in Paterson. He said he was diligent about asking for documentation and filling out required paperwork.

"I had many employees just come in off the street and they produced documentation," he said. "I had guys come into my business and they couldn't speak English. I had to assume the documentation was the proper paperwork, but I had no better qualifications than anyone else to know."

He was markedly less hands-on when he established a home-building business, he said, and did not directly hire laborers.

"Many workers were immigrants, many were Hispanic, but Polish and Russian, too," he said. "I never looked at them and asked if they were illegal aliens. If I hire Joe Smith Roofing to put a roof on a house I'm working on, it's not my job to determine if the employees are legal or illegal."

Lonegan said he's "pro-legal immigrant. I believe we have to secure the borders. But I will not look at Hispanics and ask if they're legal." He said it is unfair and unrealistic to expect him to be "a one-man immigration agency."

"It's nice that that's what people expect [of me]," he said, "but it's not what they're going to get."

It is this latest admission that most riles some proponents of strict immigration enforcement.

"I've moved from disappointment over the day laborer news to disgust now," said Charles Nussman, a Westwood resident and member of United Patriots of America. "I thought better of him. To say that it wasn't his responsibility to know if people working for him were legal or not legal is dealing from the bottom of the deck."

Lonegan now says that national political leaders need to reform immigration policy to address labor demands and the reality "that you just can't deport 12 million people."

"Criminals should be deported," he said. "But we should give those who are able to work and prove they can be self-supporting a path to citizenship. Average employers and average citizens should not be caught in the crossfire of our federal officials' failure to deal with this situation."