HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Aug. 16 — Suffolk County’s plan to prohibit local government contractors from hiring illegal immigrants won an endorsement on Wednesday from a key member of Congress on domestic security issues, who urged communities across the nation to follow the county’s example in grappling with immigration.
Until the federal government itself gets the problem under control, Suffolk’s proposed law “should be emulated throughout the country,” said Representative Peter T. King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, who sees immigration as a security issue as well as an economic one.
Mr. King, whose district includes part of Suffolk, spoke at a news conference here with County Executive Steve Levy, who drafted the legislation. The congressman said local actions would prod Washington, where his own immigration bill has passed the House but not the Senate. That measure
would authorize a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border; raise the crime of illegal immigration to a felony; and criminalize giving assistance, including food and water, to illegal immigrants.
Mr. Levy, a co-founder of a national coalition called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform, said his goal was “to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants.” The concept “will spread like wildfire” and “have a major impact from California to Maine,” he predicted.
Similar efforts are already being made elsewhere. Hazleton, Pa., recently adopted a measure denying business permits to companies that hire illegal immigrants and fining landlords who rent to them. Civil rights groups are challenging that law in court.
The Suffolk bill is the latest turn in a long-running and strident debate on Long Island, where Mr. Levy has drawn both praise and criticism for his crackdown on illegal immigration. Previously he proposed but backed away from a
plan to deputize county police officers to help enforce immigration laws. Last year he was accused of failing to provide county aid to relocate tenants evicted when the Town of Brookhaven raided homes overcrowded with dozens of immigrants.
The new legislation is sharply opposed by various religious and immigrant groups and some labor unions. This week the Long Island Council of Churches weighed in against it. But the proposal has overwhelming backing in the Suffolk County Legislature, which is expected to adopt it next month.
Mr. Levy said the public also widely supported the proposed ban. The critics “are trumped by a 10-to-1 margin from everyday residents who say, ‘Thank goodness, it’s about time,’ ” he said.
Mr. King agreed. “The American people have spoken loudly and clearly that they want to stop illegal immigration,” he said.
The bill would apply to about 6,000 companies and agencies that have contracts with Suffolk
County that are paid entirely with county funds. The legislation would require those employers to verify that their workers are in the country legally. Employers could be fined and face up to six months in jail; repeated violations could forfeit the employers’ county contracts.
The aim, Mr. Levy said, is to protect honest contractors against unfair competition from companies that exploit illegal workers by underpaying them. “This bill will level the playing field,” he said. “If you want a contract with Suffolk County, you have to play by the rules.”
Though some people have objected that the county legislation duplicates existing federal law, Mr. Levy says the law is unenforced. So does Mr. King, who said “there’s a real failure on the part of the federal government.”
Skeptics say illegal aliens generally work in landscaping, restaurants and private construction, rather than on county projects. “I haven’t seen any data indicating this is
a problem. I haven’t seen any rampant abuse by employers. Why do we need this law?” said Vivian Viloria-Fisher. She is one of two Hispanic members of the Suffolk Legislature, the only members who have announced they will vote against the bill.
The bill’s “draconian measures” could make employers afraid to hire people with darker skins, ethnic names and foreign accents, Ms. Viloria-Fisher said. She criticized the bill for not including an anti-discrimination clause like the one in federal law.
The legislation is “a symbolic gesture” that “fans the flames of hatred and divisiveness,” she said.
Carlos Canales, a labor organizer at the Workplace Project, an advocacy group for immigrants in Hempstead, N.Y., called Mr. Levy “an anti-immigrant politician” who is using the issue for political gain. “All he has done is to pick up a whip to whip the immigrant, to attack us,” he said.
But Mr. Levy dismissed his critics as “ridiculous”
and said that local government must act because “we have to bear the consequences” of illegal immigration in added costs to schools, hospitals and the criminal justice system.
Mr. Levy, a Democrat, was flanked Wednesday by construction union leaders who support his bill. Mr. King, who is a Republican, said the issue cuts across party lines.
“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,” Mr. King said. “He is standing up, and I give him credit for doing it."
