Thread: Village of Spring Valley, NY hires illegals

Spring Valley hires undocumented workers for project
By SUZAN CLARKE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: July 18, 2007)

SPRING VALLEY - The village has hired undocumented immigrants to work on an urban revitalization project on Main Street.

About 8 a.m. yesterday, a village employee from the Department of Public Works used a village truck to pick up two day laborers on Route 59 and drove them to 65A N. Main St., where they were put to work cleaning out a building slated for demolition.

Asked why the day laborers were working on the village project, the DPW workers said they were following orders.

The immigrant workers told The Journal News that they were in the country illegally.

The laborers - there were at least five men working yesterday morning - said they had been promised $10 an hour to clean out garbage, old furniture and fixtures from the building.

"To pay $10 an hour," one worker from Guatemala, Felix Sandoval, said, was "a lot of work for little money."

Speaking in Spanish, four of the men said the pay was low, and that they could normally earn $20 an hour for a similar job. But they said they took the job because they needed work.

They also said they believed the work could be unsafe, saying the basement was filled with dirty and smelly water.

At least two of the men said they also worked on the project on Monday.

Asked why undocumented workers were at a village project, Mayor George Darden replied, "They're working."

"We have 37 different nationalities" in the village, he said, "and during the summer, we try to employ everybody."

"I believe that if you keep people busy ... they become better and productive people," he added. "I'm the mayor of all the people in Spring Valley, not Jamaicans and Haitians and Jews ... all the people of Spring Valley, and they're included, and as long as they are here, we're going to try to make sure they're productive."

It is against federal law to provide work to undocumented immigrants.

Posters responding to the report on The Journal News' Web site, LoHud.com, were uniformly critical of Darden, saying a government official sworn to uphold the law should not have hired undocumented workers.

But Yesly Sandoval, a village resident, had another perspective.

"He's looking at people, giving them a fair opportunity," she said of Darden.

However, she did acknowledge that the law was clear on the issue.

"It makes it look a little bad just now, because there's so much going on with immigration right now, and here is a politician hiring undocumented people," Sandoval, of Spring Valley, said. "It's nice that he considered them, though."

Bob Dane of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-D.C. nonprofit that advocates limiting immigration, said the law was clear.

"We've had laws on the books for years that basically say that it is illegal to hire undocumented workers and frankly, anyone, regardless of whether he's the mayor or the owner of a landscape company, if they are knowingly hiring illegals … they are aiding and abetting that illegal worker," he said. "There's no excuse."

Darden said he was aware of the laws governing the hiring of undocumented immigrants, but said the federal government had not been able to do anything to address the issue of immigration.

Darden said there had been many arrests in the village of members of the immigrant day labor population and that he was trying to change that by helping people become productive.

"I am hiring people who are citizens of Spring Valley and as long as they are here, we need to find something to do rather than to try and find ways to arrest them," he said. "I'm a family person, and I'm sure they have families here, too. Everybody needs to do things to support their families."

Rockland County District Attorney Michael Bongiorno could not say whether a crime had been committed.

"I can't say at this point because I don't know all the facts," Bongiorno said.

"It's such an usual situation," Bongiorno added. "What I would do here is I'm going to consult with the (state) Department of Labor that specializes in this kind of investigation and work with them to determine what the appropriate course is to take."

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 026/NEWS10

Rockland County District Attorney Michael Bongiorno could not say whether a crime had been committed.

"I can't say at this point because I don't know all the facts," Bongiorno said.

"It's such an usual situation," Bongiorno added. "What I would do here is I'm going to consult with the (state) Department of Labor that specializes in this kind of investigation and work with them to determine what the appropriate course is to take."
--------------------------------------------

this guy doesnt know if a law has been broken????
is this DA that stupid???? its a federal law that says you dont hire illegals...DOH

district attorney
county of rockland, ny
1 south main street, suite 500
new city, n.y. 10956
(845) 638-5001 (office)
(845) 638-5298 (fax)
office hours - 9:00 am to 5:30 pm monday to friday

George O. Darden
Mayor’s Office:
200 North Main Street
Spring Valley, New York 10977
Phone: 845-573-5867


Races in Spring Valley:

* Black (44.0%)
* White Non-Hispanic (30.9%)
* Hispanic (15.4%)
* Two or more races (6.3%)
* Other race (5.3%)
* Asian Indian (2.7%)
* Filipino (1.3%)
* American Indian (0.8%)
* Other Asian (0.7%)

Are we fighting an uphill battle - or what?

"I'm the mayor of all the people in Spring Valley

Right, the people of Spring Valley, not invaders from another country. He's so full of himself that he is foolish.

The Honorable Mayor George O. Darden was born, reared and partly educated in Amory, Mississippi. George O. Darden first came to New York in 1966. George is a loving husband to his wife Lottie Jean Darden and adoring father to his two daughters, De’Rita Saunders and Lorraine Yvette Inzar. He is also a joyful grandfather of two beautiful granddaughters and a handsome grandson.

Man, does this mayor like to brag!!!!

http://www.villagespringvalley.org/

Rockland County District Attorney Michael Bongiorno could not say whether a crime had been committed.

"I can't say at this point because I don't know all the facts," Bongiorno said.

Is it really that hard to comprehend the word illegal Mr. District Attorney?
Yet another attorney that received a law license from the University of ACLU.

"I am hiring people who are citizens of Spring Valley...

Oh look, now he has bestowed citizenship upon them....no tests or swearing in or nuttin', the all-mighty major has spoken!!

THIS is why we have to fight so hard...they come for jobs...and our leaders give them to them...ILLEGALS should not be employed...No jobs..no money...our borders would not be under seige. Stop the employers!

Welcome cottagelady!

Truth is you cannot get a legal laborer at $10.00 an hour in the New York area. This was to save money not help the bums hanging around.
How much the illegals cost the towns taxpayers for everything there families freeload adds up to more the the going rate.

The Mayor needs an education, i will send him the ALIPAC link

The illegals were "cleaning out a building " the next building they clean out might be yours........


Welcome cottageladyjb