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November 2, 2005
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Tancredo Calls on U.S. Attorney to Investigate Herndon

Congressman Alleges that ‘Day Laborer Center’ May Violate Federal Criminal Conspiracy Laws


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) alleged that the planning and construction of the Day Laborer Center in Herndon, Virginia may violate federal criminal conspiracy laws. Tancredo urged U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty to initiate an investigation of the Herndon city council’s action, in a letter sent today. The full text of the letter is reprinted below:



Dear Mr. McNulty:



As you know, a substantial number of members of Congress are concerned with the recent marked increase in the number of illegal aliens in the United States, and not least with a) their adverse effect on the job market for all Americans legally in this country and b) the extent to which this growing presence implies the routinized and systemic violation of an entire range of critical Federal laws.



I write to you in this regard and in particular to bring to your attention a matter involving a locality within your jurisdiction, the town of Herndon, Virginia.



In August, despite the opposition of the local Planning Commission and the vast majority of Herndon citizens who spoke in public hearings on the issue, certain members of the Herndon Town Council (hereinafter, the "Sanctioning Council Members") voted to approve a zoning application to establish a day-labor hiring center (hereinafter, the "DLC") in Herndon, submitted by an organization (hereinafter, "PHH") interested in obtaining a $170,000/year contract from Fairfax County to operate that DLC.



The terms of the Application, as discussed by PHH with Town officials including the Sanctioning Council Members and as passed by those Members, included:



i) an explicit refusal by PHH to screen, as it had the legal right to, job seekers for legal (in 8 USC 1324a(h)(3) terms) presence in the United States and



ii) a maximum occupancy limit for the DLC set explicitly high enough to accommodate the total number of individuals typically seen at an existing "informal" DLC in Herndon.



In that these actions -- and in particular the discussions between town officials including the Sanctioning Council Members and members of PHH of the screening and occupancy issues -- took place in the face of a June 2004 study by Fairfax County indicating that some 85% of all workers at that informal site were in fact undocumented, it would appear that



a) such discussions would have been facilitative of violations of the 8 USC 1324a ban on the hiring of undocumented aliens and that



b) they therefore would have constituted a violation of 18 USC 371, the Federal criminal conspiracy law.



In addition, it would appear from the facts of the Herndon case that there may also have been violations on the part of the Sanctioning Council Members and staff of PHH of 8 USC 1324(a)(i)(A)(iv), barring encouraging or inducing an individual to enter or reside in the United States in reckless disregard of the fact that he/she may be in this country illegally.



In view of the foregoing, I would urge your office to undertake at the earliest possible time -- since preparations to open the Herndon DLC are on-going as this is written -- an inquiry to determine if in fact a Federal criminal conspiracy or inducement crime may in fact have been committed, and if so, what the appropriate remedial action may be.



Sincerely,







Tom Tancredo

Member of Congress


http://tancredo.house.gov/press/presser ... erndon.htm