Firms that hire undocumented workers could lose business under proposals

“If we fix that, if we stop the employers, everything else follows,” said Joseph Budzinski, president of the anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Loudoun.

County contractors would have to certify that all of their employees are legal U.S. residents to do business with the county under proposals the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors debated Tuesday.

Developers who want to build homes or commercial parks could also be required to declare their workers are legal, Supervisor Mick Staton said during the debate.

If businesses are found to be hiring illegal immigrants, they could lose contracts or development permits, under the proposals.

“I welcome anyone who wants to come to this country on proper visas and work … but go through the law,” Supervisor Jim Clem said Tuesday. “Laws are laws.”

Republican sheriff nominee Greg Ahlemann said that if he wins the November election, deputies will wash their own cruisers until the county gets assurances the workers at local car-washing services are all legal residents.

But Supervisor Jim Burton argued the economy's demand for 39,000 new jobs since 2000, mostly in the service industry, has forced employers to rely on immigrant labor and said the issue needs more economic analysis.

A legal work force is mandatory, Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce President Tony Howard said, but employers cannot always determine legal status properly.

“We oppose these sanctions on employers for hiring illegal workers, when there does not exist a comprehensive and expeditious system for determining legal status,” Howard told The Examiner.

Loudoun County Vice Chairman Bruce Tulloch held an Internal Revenue Service I-9 employment verification form aloft during Tuesday’s board debate and said if job applicants can’t meet the criteria, they shouldn’t get a job.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com