SWEENEY WANTS SANCTIONS FOR FIRMS THAT HIRE ILLEGA

[admin]

www.politickernj.com/sweeney-wants-sanctions-firms-hire-illegals-16461

SWEENEY WANTS SANCTIONS FOR FIRMS THAT HIRE ILLEGALS
By jmanion - February 15, 2008 - 4:25pm
Tags: Senator Steve Sweeney,Top Story: Breaking,
Release Date: Feb 15 2008
TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney today said he will sponsor legislation to punish New Jersey firms that knowingly hire illegal aliens.

“Companies that knowingly hire illegals are destroying job opportunities for the working men and women of New Jersey,” said Senator Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland. “The practice has to be stopped.”

First-time offenders would have their licenses to do business in New Jersey suspended for 10 days and second offenses would carry permanent revocations under the proposal currently being drafted, Senator Sweeney said.

“New Jersey should welcome legal immigrants with open arms, but we need to put up a stop sign for illegals who undermine family, educational and health care support systems,” said Senator Sweeney.

The measure is being crafted to take effect by the end of this year at which point employers would have to verify the legal status of their workforces. The proposal would be modeled after an Arizona statute whose constitutionality was upheld last week by a federal judge.

“People complain about illegal immigrants, but the federal government is not enforcing its own statutes,” Senator Sweeney said. “With my bill, New Jersey would join Arizona as the only two states thus far to impose sanctions against businesses who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.”

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake rejected claims that the Arizona statute usurped the federal government’s right to regulate immigration, adding that federal law specifically grants states the right to regulate business licensing.

Under the Arizona law, both the Attorney General’s Office and county prosecutors are charged with receiving complaints about illegal hirings, but valid complaints are turned over to county prosecutors.

New Jersey’s illegal population was last set by the federal government at 430,000 in 2006, but has since grown to nearly 500,000, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group favoring restrictions on illegal immigration.

Senator Sweeney said he expects to have his bill drafted in time for introduction next week.

Contact: jmanion

609-292-5215

[e-mail]

[admin]

I know this topic seams to be in the wrong board, but I felt it worth putting here because it is very relevant to our town. What I like is that Sweeney is a Dem, just like our elected leaders in Freehold. I put this here because I believe our town council and Mayor should be very proactive and aggressive in petitioning for legislation like that outlined above. I hope that by putting this here, the Mayor and council will seek out and employ just such laws.

One of our biggest problems is that Freehold had turned into the labor camp for western Monmouth. Starting right here in our own town there are several businesses that should be looked at to ensure that they are using lawful hiring practices.

[admin]

A very predictable follow up.......

www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/NEWS0301/802250308


TRENTON — Just when Gov. Jon S. Corzine needs friends, a key Democratic lawmaker has landed in a fight with a mainstay of their party's political base, New Jersey's large and growing Latino population.

Corzine needs chums at this particular moment, a little over halfway into his four-year term, because he appears to have lost legislative and popular support for his idea to raise tolls to trim the state debt. Things might get harder in the days ahead, when Corzine lays bare his painful state budget, which may include layoffs of state employees — another core constituency often loyal to Democrats.

"Gov. Corzine's plan to get New Jersey's fiscal house in order affects each and every resident of the state, all constituencies," said spokesman Jim Gardner. "As such, we must collectively remain focused on the goal of reducing state debt, cutting the state budget, and working through New Jersey's financial crisis."

State unions are girding to oppose parts of his budget plan that may imperil their jobs.

"They are playing the same game they always play. They are not looking where they can save money. ... They have too many managers. Some of them have one manager for every three to five people," said Rae Roeder, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1033.

It is in this atmosphere that Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has drawn the ire of some Latino leaders by introducing a bill that would penalize firms that knowingly hire immigrants in the country illegally.

This idea set off a sharp protest from Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey president Martin Perez, who quickly pivoted to the role Hispanic voters play in the Democratic Party's base.

"Sweeney places blame on the private-business sector and the undocumented for both depressed wages as well as the costs of state services," Perez said. "It is the toxins of legislative fiscal irresponsibility that Sweeney should target for elimination, not the business community."

Perez said the Latino vote "determines electoral outcomes" and that "it appears the state Democratic Party is out of touch."

"We will not be taken for granted by the Democratic legislative and party leadership," warned Perez. "And unless they denounce and remove Majority Leader Sweeney from his leadership positions in the Democratic Party, when we go to the polls we will make sure the Democratic Party understands how important the immigration-reform issue is to the Latino community."

Sweeney said the bill is needed because the federal government doesn't enforce immigration laws. On Friday, federal officials announced that fines against employees who knowingly hire illegal immigrants will be raised 25 percent, the first boost since 1999.

Sweeney said he welcomes a review of his proposal by the Governor's Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy.

"I am not picking a fight. I am not targeting legal immigrants," said Sweeney."It's about people that are here illegally. We have got generations now who are illegal."

"Businesses have an opportunity to do the right thing here," Sweeney said. "The excuse the business community used to make in the past — and it was legitimate — was that it was very difficult to determine what is legitimate (documentation) and what is not. Now (the Department of) Homeland Security has a (web) site. It is very easy to use."

"You praise the people who come here legally," said Sweeney. "This (immigration) is another area where the federal government never stepped up and did what it should have done."

Perez, for his part, remains angry: "Sen. Sweeney has singled out the most vulnerable and voiceless in targeting the immigrant population, who at worst are guilty only of civil violations."

Tom Baldwin: [e-mail]

[admin]

In my previos post make sure and click on the link to see the comments on the APP site. There is LLA bashing. In other words, the APP has malcontents posting!

[admin]

and now for a good editorial from the APP......

www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/OPINION01/802250307/1029

Astate lawmaker's proposal to lift the licenses of New Jersey businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants could do what the federal government has failed to do: stem the tide of illegals that has taxed local services, depressed wages and taken jobs away from citizens.

Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney, D-Gloucester, plans to introduce a bill this week that would require employers to verify the legal status of their workers. "Companies that knowingly hire illegals are destroying job opportunities for the working men and women of New Jersey. The practice has to be stopped," said Sweeney, who is a business representative for an ironworkers' union.

First-time offenders would face a 10-day suspension of their business license. A second offense would bring a permanent revocation. Violations would be reported for investigation by law enforcement agencies.

Sweeney is well-prepared to defend challenges to his plan from business groups. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce says immigration should be addressed at the federal level, not through a confusing patchwork of state laws. Ideally, yes. But Congress has refused to act, leaving states with the burden.

Sweeney says states have the authority to regulate businesses through licensing. A federal court in Arizona recently ruled that pulling the business license of employers who hire illegals does not infringe on federal immigration powers.

Leaving verification in the hands of the employers is another concern of the business community. A New Jersey Business & Industry Association vice president said employers are barred from asking certain questions about an applicant's background and must accept a Social Security card that appears valid. Sweeney says a Social Security number can be easily verified through a Web site maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.

Contractors who hire illegal immigrants are violating the law. The federal government isn't enforcing it. Sweeney's bill will allow the states to do it for them. It deserves support.

[admin]

admin said:

I know this topic seams to be in the wrong board, but I felt it worth putting here because it is very relevant to our town. What I like is that Sweeney is a Dem, just like our elected leaders in Freehold. I put this here because I believe our town council and Mayor should be very proactive and aggressive in petitioning for legislation like that outlined above. I hope that by putting this here, the Mayor and council will seek out and employ just such laws.

One of our biggest problems is that Freehold had turned into the labor camp for western Monmouth. Starting right here in our own town there are several businesses that should be looked at to ensure that they are using lawful hiring practices.

As mentioned above, I put this here because I am publicly asking the Mayor and council to also support this bill from Sweeny. I would like to see the Mayor and council also get vocal and very publicly support this bill.

We have plenty of contraband labor in this town which has been the source of many of our problems.

Beyond supporting the bill, I am also asking the council to also support stepped up enforcement to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The bill will have no meaning unless there is enforcement to back it up. I want to see Mayor Wilson and the rest of the council to lead this charge at the local level. Reach out to our own representatives in Trenton and to Sweeny for these very much needed initiatives.

In other words....

make some noise, Mayor and council!

[admin]

The above post is a call to the mayor and council to do the right thing. This post is a call to all of you, the citizens.

Write, call or email all of your elected leaders to support this bill. Petition the governing body of Freehold to get involved instead of sitting on their hands. How many times have we heard excuses that our problems are the result of the higher government from our local leaders? Well, now is the time for the council to step up and we should all be calling on them to do it.

I will provide the contact information in the near future for all the people we need to contact to not only see this bill passed, but enforced.

[admin]

Another point to the mayor and council,

We have heard for many years that the problems we face are the result of larger governments not doing their job and not helping. Many times the governing body has used this excuse. As mentioned earlier, I believe the council should take on a far more activist approach to things as opposed to sitting back and waiting. I know that the mayor and some council members have done this in the past with other issues. That is to their credit. Now is the time to do it again.

With the Sweeney bill, the mayor and council should also reach out to other municipalities with similar concerns to ours and get them to also join in the chorus of better laws and enforcement pertaining to the use of contraband labor.

This issue is a no brainer. It is time for the governing body to step up.

[admin]

At last night council meeting, Marc LeVine introduced a resolution asking the governing body to support State legislation that has been introduced by Stephan Sweeney and Anthony Bucco. The former is intended to go after employers who hire illegal labor and the latter will allow municipalities to raise fines for over crowding.

I will post the state ordinances following this post. These are very crucial measures and it is highly recommended that citizens write their elected leaders and support these much needed measures.

www.njleg.state.nj.us/


The above link will bring you to the state site where you will find the info to contact your elected leaders.

[admin]

S164 Authorizes imposition of additional fines for overcrowding.
2nd Reading in the Senate
www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp

The proposals are too long for one post, go to the link for further info.

[admin]

I have to bump this again. Behind the scenes I have been reaching out to many residents of our town. Some were not up to date on these issues, others are well aware and very supportive.

The bottom line is that momentum for support of everything in this thread is gaining, fast.

I look very forward to hearing what our governing body is going to do.

[ka19]

OH NO! What will we do if the latinos start voting republican!

Perhaps it is the illegal immigrants who would be most harmed as a result of such a development.

Latinos determining electoral outcomes in favor of the NJ Republicans? Well, in the immortal words of President George Walker Bush, "Bring em on!!"