Text of Gaffney's Letter to Legislature
COUNTY OF SUFFOLK
OFFICE OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE
April 4, 2001
Presiding Officer Paul J. Tonna
And Members of the Suffolk County Legislature
William H. Rogers Legislative Building
Veterans Memorial Highway
Smithtown, New York 11787
Re: Resolution No. 220-01, Designating Catholic Charities As Contract Agency For Funding Included In The 2001 Operating Budget
Dear Presiding Officer Torina and Members of the Suffolk County Legislature:
I am returning Resolution No. 220-01, Designating Catholic Charities As Contract Agency For Funding In The 2001 Operating Budget, vetoed.
The resolution designates $80,000 from the Suffolk County Department of Labor 2001 Operating Budget to Catholic Charities to enable the agency to initiate a community opportunity center in Farmingville, New York. Catholic Charities has proposed to develop the multi-purpose immigration center for educational, legal and referral services to assist Brookhaven’s growing immigrant population, including the many day-laborers seeking employment from the area’s contractors.
Catholic Charities has a notable record of helping new immigrants transition into communities through their existing network of shape-up sites in various regions of the country. These centers have helped to provide some relief to communities beset by social tensions and other problems associated with day laborers soliciting work along widely used roadways. These same problems have greatly impacted the quality of life for the residents of Farmingville.
I strongly believe that social and humanitarian issues require actions, and that local communities in conjunction with faith-based organizations are well suited for this challenge. However, I do not believe that it is county government’s proper role to initiate a government supported and sanctioned infrastructure for purportedly illegal hiring practices. Undocumented workers work “off the books” and violate immigration, tax and labor laws. Clearly, they represent only half the equation: their employers also fail to comply with the law — and sometimes exploit the day-laborers’ legal vulnerability by failing to pay fair labor wages.
The statutory foundation of United States immigration law has always been the jurisdiction of the federal government, Congress and the federal courts. The preeminent laws concerning the employment of undocumented workers are found in the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. §~ 1101-1503), as amended by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 CIRCA). The policy goal of IRCA was to “close the back door on illegal immigration so that the front door on legal immigration may remain open.” The statute attempts to achieve this goal by making it more difficult for employers to hire undocumented workers. See H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 99-682, pt. I (1986). Despite Congress’ intent and our repeated requests, the federal government has failed to adequately enforce the applicable immigration and labor laws concerning undocumented workers in Farrningville. And yet, it is a crime to assist an alien who lacks employment authorization by referring him to an employer, or by acting as his or her employer, or as an agent for an employer. 8 U.S.C.S. § 1324a(a)(1)(A) (Lexis 1997). Furthermore, it is unlawful to hire an individual for employment without complying with the employment eligibility requirements for every person hired. 8 U.S.C.S. § 1324a(a)(l)(B) (Lexis 1997). Moreover, “conduct tending substantially to facilitate [the] alien’s remaining in the United States illegally,” where there is knowledge or a reckless disregard of an alien’s unlawful status, is a crime, with escalating penalties, encompassed within the provisions of 1324. 8 U.S.C.S. § 1324(a)(l)(A)(iii) (Lexis 1997); United States v. Kim. 193 F-3d 567 (2d Cir. 1999). Day workers, including illegal, undocumented workers, are considered employees for purposes of immigration law.
It is at this important juncture, and I would argue, a defining juncture, that we now find ourselves. As public servants, we are charged with the responsibility of upholding the law—as unfair or unjust as we may personally deem it. In our deliberations, it is our responsibility to ensure that we meet certain standards by adhering to the law, and by applying the law fairly and equitably for the common good of our residents in the ten towns. I do not believe that the proposed opportunity center meets this standard.
Catholic Charities has a laudable history of assisting the vulnerable and disadvantaged on Long Island, and throughout the nation. They have, in many ways, served as a model for other faith-based organizations in responding to the immediate needs of the poor by advocating and producing long-term solutions to social and economic problems. I believe the community and the day laborers, along with faith-based organizations, can meet this challenge and craft a solution by engaging in constructive dialogue.
For the above stated reasons, I am returning Resolution No. 220-0 1 vetoed.
Sincerely,
ROBERT J. GAFFNEY
Suffolk County Executive
RJG:ks
ALSO OF RECENT INTEREST:
Local officials meet in DC - demand reimbursement,deputization
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Local Officials Seek Help From U.S. on Immigration [in D.C.]
By PAUL VITELLO
Send an E-Mail to Paul Vitello [previously of Newsday]: www.nytimes.com/gst/emailus.html
Comments: http://p220.ezboard.com/f631politicsfrm16.showMessage?topicID=1420.topic
Published: March 7, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 6 — Gather 100 local officials from 30 states — Democrats and Republicans from big states and little ones — and there are probably few issues on which all will agree. But President Bush's record on illegal immigration apparently is one......
The gathering, organized and convened here under the banner of the Coalition of Mayors and County Executives for Immigration Reform, http://www.ci.danbury.ct.us/content/39/75/4574.aspx called for border security and, most urgently, reimbursement to localities for the cost of dealing with a problem its members say the federal government has ignored.....
"It is a failure," said Mark D. Boughton, speaking on Monday at a gathering of those officials here. Mr. Boughton, the mayor of Danbury, Conn., created a stir last year when he sought, unsuccessfully, to have State Police troopers deputized as immigration control agents.....
"Enough is enough," said Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive and co-organizer of the event. Mr. Levy became a sort of guiding light among local officials around the country after he decided last summer to help shut down boarding houses in Farmingville, N.Y., where hundreds of illegal immigrants lived in crowded conditions...... "In recent polls, 88 percent of the people said that illegal immigration is a serious or 'somewhat serious' problem," Mr. Levy said. "Yet there just seems to be a disconnect between that and what the Congress and the media think."...
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/politics/07immigration.html?_r=1&oref=slogin