DHS Secretary Chertoff Called to Account for Ignoring Illegal Alien Hiring Halls

Sometimes a ray of light will shine through the dense fog that often prevents members of the House and Senate from differentiating between the sentiments of their constituents and the special interests that press their parochial demands on a daily basis. Just such a ray of light pierced the fog on July 18 in a sternly worded letter from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Senator Grassley expressed serious concern about the development of hiring halls for illegal aliens in general and in Herndon, VA in particular. The Senator’s letter referred to a front page article in the July 18 Washington Post describing plans by that city’s elected leaders to spend state, local and federal money to establish a day labor center for workers who “tend to be illegal aliens.”

Senator Grassley, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a long-time member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration posed four stinging questions for the DHS Secretary.

• “What specific actions are being taken to eliminate day labor street corners and parking lots, and specifically what interaction your Department has had with the City of Herndon, Virginia. According to Toussaint Summer, Jr., Herndon Chief of Police, ‘Immigration agents regularly drive by the labor site at the 7- Eleven when in town”… “If true, turning a blind eye to this behavior is incomprehensible.”
  
• Can you “reassure me that no federal funds from the Department of Homeland Security are being used to establish any day labor center or ‘hiring hall,’ not just in Herndon but throughout the United States.”
  
• Given the fact that “operation of such a center could be construed to provide a protective shield for illegal aliens, thus violating the Immigration and Naturalization Act… What is the Department doing to ensure that such labor centers are complying with the law, specifically 8 U.S.C. 1373?
  
• “These workers have broken the law by residing in the United States without proper screening. They have also been assisted by those who pick up the illegal aliens to do work. The employers should also face penalties for providing work to those lacking the proper authorization, and skirting our tax system by paying under the table. These centers do nothing to promote our adherence to the rule of law, and should not be tolerated by any government entity.”

Paul S. Egan, FAIR Dir. Of Government Relations

FAIR has obtained a copy of Grassley's letter, available here.