From Associated Press:

County leader: Bill could be model for stopping illegal influx

By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press Writer

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. -- In a new front on the assault on illegal immigration, a proposal would require companies doing business with Suffolk County to certify their employees are in the U.S. legally _ a bill County Executive Steve Levy believes could be a model for municipalities across the country.

"The thing that feeds illegal immigration is the hiring," Levy said in an interview Friday. "If every county and town and state used this type of law, it would go a long way in mitigating the immigration problem. If you dry up the jobs, you dry up the flow of illegal immigration."

Levy's proposal, which has its opponents, would affect about 6,000 companies and agencies that have county contracts. The penalties include fines and potential jail time, and repeat offenders could forfeit their contracts. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, and a vote by the county legislature is expected next month.

A number of other communities, including Hazleton, Pa., and Riverside, N.J., have recently adopted similar measures, but they are being challenged in court.

Suffolk County, on the eastern half of Long Island, has experienced an influx of day laborers from Mexico and Central America over the past decade.

Levy estimated on Friday that number has grown to 40,000. In the past, the county executive has backed efforts to crack down on illegally overcrowded housing in communities like Farmingville, where dozens of people are suspected of living together in single-family homes.

Levy is a Democrat who co-founded a national coalition called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform. He has been criticized for his aggressive stance by advocates for day laborers and others, but received critical backing for his proposal this week from Republican Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Part of King's congressional district is in Suffolk County.

"I don't know anyone in the country who is more reflecting the view of the American people than Steve Levy, and he does it under terrible abuse, attack and distortion," King said at a recent press conference attended by representatives from several unions that support the bill.

Opponents say Levy's proposal will further divide the undocumented workers from the rest of the community.

"This is bad for Suffolk because it will increase discrimination and add to a climate of intolerance," said Jim McAsey, director of the local chapter of Jobs for Justice, a coalition of unions, community groups and faith-based organizations.

Levy said tackling the immigration issue has fallen to local officials of both parties because "the federal government has essentially ignored its responsibility" to enforce immigration laws.

"Unless there is some major reform and enforcement of the borders, the immigration problem is going to gobble us up," he said. "The floodgates are open, and there is no incentive for people not to come here."