Village hired illegal aliens, newspaper reports

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
07-18-2007

Village hired illegal aliens, newspaper reports
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Date: 07-18-2007, Wednesday
Section: NEWS
Edtion: All Editions

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — Day laborers who reportedly said they were illegal immigrants were hired Tuesday by a suburban village for a construction project.

Mayor George Darden said the men were not asked about their immigration status and deserved the jobs "as much as anybody else."

The Journal News reported on its Internet site that a Department of Public Works employee picked up two day laborers on Route 59 — a common gathering place — and drove them to a Main Street project, where they were put to work cleaning out a building before demolition.

The workers "said they were in the country illegally," the report said.

Darden said the village did not know if the men were illegal and added, "These people live in Spring Valley and I am the mayor of all the people of Spring Valley. They have families like anyone else. I am not going to stick my head in the sand and pretend they're not here."

In an apparent reference to congressional inaction on immigration legislation, Darden said, "The federal government has to make up their mind and they shouldn't expect Spring Valley to make up their mind for them."

It is against the law to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, a statute that is widely flouted, although not by government agencies.

Keywords: IMMIGRATION, EMPLOYMENT

Copyright 2007 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.