http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletim...970.xml&coll=1

Commissioner touts bill to make it a crime to employ such aliens
Saturday, December 03, 2005
By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer, jpeck@htimes.com

Lieutenant governor candidate Morris "Mo" Brooks is pushing a bill that would make it a crime for employers to hire illegal aliens. It also provides financial incentives for whistle-blowers to turn in violators.

The "Stop Employment of Illegal Aliens Act, would make it a felony to knowingly employ an illegal alien. Brooks calls it the "See Ya Act," playing off its acronym, SEIAA.

Brooks, a Madison County commissioner from Huntsville, said the recent shooting death of Huntsville police officer Daniel Golden and a rash of recent traffic fatalities in Huntsville caused by illegal immigrant drivers motivated him.

"It's been a growing series of events involving illegal aliens that has helped to educate me about the magnitude of the problem," Brooks said Friday. "Someone needs to take action and do something about it."

Efforts to reach state Hispanic leaders for comment were unsuccessful.

Brooks, who intends to ask the County Commission to endorse the bill Monday, said states must protect themselves because the federal government has failed to stop the influx of illegal immigrants.

"The cause of Alabama's illegal alien disaster is simple: Too many people hire illegal aliens despite their illegal status," Brooks said in a news release. "These people are motivated by personal profit and care not one twit about the damage their conduct inflicts on the rest of Alabama."

Penalties for each offense would include fines of up to $5,000, up to 10 years imprisonment, court costs and a "wage penalty" equal to whichever is greater: $5,000 or triple the profit made from hiring illegal aliens. The "profit" is the difference between the going wage for that job in the area and what the illegal immigrant was actually paid.

"If illegal aliens can't get jobs in Alabama, illegal aliens who are here will leave and illegal aliens who aren't here won't come. It's just that simple," Brooks said.

The bill does not specify steps employers must make to ensure the worker is in the country legally.

Russell Davis, an officer with the Homebuilders Association of Alabama, said there is no way for contractors to check the immigration status of everyone on a construction site.

"In a typical situation where someone hires a subcontractor and that sub winds up having an illegal alien on that crew, who's committing the felony?" he said. He called the bill an "overreaching" effort to deal with the problem.

Davis said some employers would be unfairly prosecuted because they didn't go far enough investigating the immigration status of a would-be worker.

"Some of these folks who are here illegally know how to work the system to fabricate documents," Davis said. "Is that a felony if he hires someone who has false credentials?"

Brooks said the bill is clear on what constitutes a violation. "The evidence must be such that the employer knows the person he's hired is an illegal alien," he said.

Exceptions are made for small, temporary jobs such as a homeowner hiring a yard man.

Mike Ward, vice president of governmental affairs for the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber hasn't studied the bill enough to offer any comment.

Brooks will face at least two others in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor: former state treasurer George Wallace Jr., who sits on the Public Service Commission, and Birmingham attorney Luther Strange.

Former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.