Thread: Fence execs sentenced for illegal hiring

Fence execs sentenced for illegal hiring
Staff and agencies
29 March, 2007

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 28, 8:49 PM ET

SAN DIEGO - Two executives at a company that once helped build a fence to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border were sentenced Wednesday to six months of home confinement for hiring undocumented workers.

Kay, 64, was fined $200,000 as part of a plea agreement, and McLaughlin, 42, agreed to pay $100,000.

However, prosecutors were unable to find a previous case in which an employer had been sent to jail for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

In December, company officials acknowledged knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed the firm would pay a $4.7 million fine, one of the largest for immigration violations.

Moskowitz said he was uneasy with handing down jail time because the company did not deserve to be "the poster child" for unscrupulous employers. All of Kay‘s workers paid Social Security taxes and received health benefits, vacation and sick time. Many earned more than $50,000 a year.

Federal authorities said they found no evidence that illegal immigrants were hired in the late 1990s while the company built more than a mile of the 14-mile fence near a border crossing in San Diego.

Kay apologized before he was sentenced and described how his business suffered after the guilty pleas. Golden State was banned from government work, which accounts for 30 percent of its revenue. The company has laid off about 150 employees, leaving it with about 500 workers.

McLaughlin said he was relieved at not having to serve prison time.

"He‘d probably go to one of the camp facilities that he built the fence for," the judge said.



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