Spring Valley ratifies mayor's hire of illegal workers

By SUZAN CLARKE
THE JOURNAL NEWS


(Original publication: August 1, 2007)
SPRING VALLEY - The village board of trustees has voted to reimburse Mayor George Darden for the cash he paid to illegal immigrant workers he hired for a village project.


In a Village Board meeting last night, Darden, along with Deputy Mayor Noramie Jasmin and Trustee Joseph Desmaret, voted in single resolution to approve the $925 repayment and ratified the contract with the workers. The board agreed, in order to comply with a state Departement of Labor order, to pay back wages this week for the immigrants' work in removing unusable furniture from 65A N. Main St.


The back wages could constitute thousands of dollars.


Village resident Emilia White was furious to learn of the move.


"I can't believe it. I'm so upset," she said today. "That's insane. I think that is absolutely the wrong thing to do because that's not our fault, the taxpayers' fault, that he went out and hired illegal immigrants. I don't know how he didn't have to pay for breaking the law."


Darden has said he discussed "seasonal labor" with a man - whom he did not name - who was able to produce "legal identification." Darden has refused to answer all questions regarding specifics about the incident, including whether he or the village had used such workers before, and said he the village did not intentionally or knowingly hire undocumented workers.


Immigrants at the project told The Journal News they were undocumented, and one man, Felix Sandoval, said Darden came to Route 59 and asked him to come to the job with nine other workers.


Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art ... /708010434