New policy bans illegal workers




By Jeffery Smith

Tue Jul 07, 2009, 12:00 AM EDT


Corning, N.Y.

The Corning City Council unanimously adopted a policy Monday night that prohibits contractors from hiring illegal aliens. However, the penalty is not a hard-and-fast rule.

City Mayor Tom Reed said each occurrence will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Under the policy, loan recipients who are found using illegal immigrants on site or breaking any other law are considered to be in default. However, that doesn’t mean the loan will revoked.

In February, Councilman Betty Coccho, D-6, proposed the city review its loan policies and said businesses who receive city loans and hire illegal aliens should have their funding revoked.

The issue arose after a group of suspected illegal aliens was briefly detained by city police in January. The group was released without police ever proving the workers were in the country illegally.

At the time, the city’s Revolving Loan Committee was look-ing at simplifying the application process for city loans.

“This is not totally what I wanted,â€