Contractor gets 14 months for hiring illegal immigrants

I think this sentence is unfair. Instead of going after verizon, a nationwide company, let's go after the little guys. Sure they may have employeed illegals but why not hold the main company responsible. If the Buttery's are getting time shouldn't the message be sent to the parent company, the ones who are ultimately responsible for the work and the profits. I'd like to see some true justice here. Verizon should be fined and held criminally responsible for allowing the illegals to be hired in the first place. And then let the buck be passed to the consumer who will in the end have to pay huge bills to receive and keep their service. All I'm saying is hold everyone equally responsible.

Hiring undocumented workers is not that cheap ,if you get 14 months in jail as a result of the business relationship. Also concerning immigrants & cheap labor, for the most part here, in the construction industry, if they have a social security number & or green card, they usually get what everyone else does, and possibly may deserve, & get more than some others. They could be green & from Mars for all I care, as long as they are documented to work from the Government, & I have a way to communicate with them. I would prefer paying someone for their ability, & results. Unfortunately, the minimum wage laws prohibit one from following that rule entirely. lol

How many of Americans want to pay over 200 dollars for cable each month? The contractors do what they have to do. I would like you to list tem americanos that would do this kinda work on a regular basics. Everyone wants to complain about prices but nobody wants to do the work. If you do not do cheap labor your government will just send the work to europe, which they have done. Check it out for yourself. All the contractor was doing was trying to support his family. The courts don't even report the correct facts, none of the men were underpaid. If you'd like to read the court transcripts they are open to the public. Think about a 500 month internet bill next time you want to complain about hiring illegals.

HEAVY Fines and Felony Jail Time is the only way to stop the ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS!!! Why stop at the subcontractor? Go after the organization above!!!

Enforcing our Immigration Laws and Securing National Borders are not partisan, divisive, or polarizing issues! In current polls vast majority of United States Citizens want our Immigration Laws Enforced and our National Borders Secured. Politicians without their own or their Elitist Political "Contributor’s" self serving agenda support their citizens and not their Elitist "Contributors".

Give me a break! Hard working? Yeah, they work real hard at cutting your phone line, like they did to my mother-in-law. Then I go out there to tell them what they just did, and none of them can speak a word of English. We called Verizon and Verizon did everything to blow us off. If it hadn't been for her cell phone she would have been completely cut off, and she didn't get her phone back until a month later. Talk about incompetence. Miss Utilities had already come out and marked where her phone lines were located with orange chalk. I suppose the Mexicans thought that meant where they could dig.

It's nice to see the state doing it's part to inforce the law. Hey Cali, what have you done for the taxpayers lately? And Verizon, you have culpability in this as well. Just because you hire subs for the grunt work, you should insure they are adhearing to the law.

..its a start! But its way too late. The damage has already been done to this country. Extreme measures will be needed in the coming years to stop an additional 50 million from working in the midwest in the Lazaro Kansas City corridor. But hey, at least the judge made a stand!

I noticed that the country of origin is not mentioned. If the "immigrants" were Mexicans, then he must be heartbroken with the aspect of loosing his crew. Overall, the Mexicans seem to me to be the hardest working crews I have ever seen in the field, often doing quality work in an expeditious manner. Very few of them seem to be on drugs or crack like more than a few of the young American natives, who disappear after they get the paycheck, sometimes never to return, sometimes in a few days looking like something the "cat drug in", fully expecting to keep their job.. I hope that the Mexicans do what they need to do , to be here legally, so that contractors can get a decent crew without breaking the law. Learning Spanish is a small price to pay, for what you get in return, for the most part. "se habla" contractorva

It seems an awfully foolish argument for a good attorney to argue..."Hey, everybody else is doing it, so why should I get punished?" Seems like it would have been better to throw himself on the mercy of the court, take full responsibility, admit he was wrong, and maybe get a lighter sentence.

Excellent Ruling. A Good sSart. Now, if only we can send a few more to the Slammer these Clowns will think twice before supporting an Illegal Enterprise.

The immigration issue is a total mess. Congress is voting to give illegals social security benefits when the illegals have not even contributed to the fund! I am sure Bush will pardon this contractor before November when his presidential term ends. All lame-duck presidents have their nutty list of pardons. And as for the "speak our language issue", I would be satisfied if the current citizens who were born and raised in the U.S. would learn to speak the language......"naw mean"?

It should have been 14 years. Now that would have been a message to send!

yep. sounds like the same gourp that installed the fiber optic cable on the corner of my house. I had to come outside and tell them to pick up the trash they threw in my driveway while they were out there working.
I was not pleased to say the least. Not one of the workers spoke english.

I agree let's take back our country. Deport Not Support!!!! And this is America so "Speak English".. I'm sick and tired of listening to mumbo jumbo... go back to where you belong if you cannot speak our language!!!!

Pick up a shovel and begin digging that 3 foot deep by 12 inch wide hole around all the other encumbrances that prevent jet-tracking for hundreds of feet in acredale clay. Don't moan and groan, dig, dig! For hours MEN dig in heat, cold, rain, humidity, sunshine as we enjoy our FIOS television. Where's da union! I'll tell you where the union is, home watching TV cause thats back breaking work unfit for any American today. Spare the rod, spoil the child, spare the shovel, spoil the man.

I'd like to shake that judges hand. The defense attorney's only arguement was "it might not be illegal in the near future"? He actually has a law degree?!? That's the worst defense line since "My neighbors dog, Sam, told me to kill people." Anyway, 12 to 20 million people here illegally is an invasion, not "a small group of migrant workers living in the shadows." Almost 7 years since the Sept. 11th 2001 attacks and our borders and ports are still wide open. Deport not support.

I bet if he was fortune 500 he wouldn't have gotten jail time! Conagra where are you now! Can you imagine if this type of action was taken a few years ago? Better late than never I guess. BTW, our corporations and gov't is counting on the illegals to be the new growth for business and taxes. The companies need to constantly grow to please wall street. They probably overlook the burden on welfare if they legalize all illegals, because then they won't need to work to achieve the same low standard of living that they probably get paid under the table for very hard work.

These illegals were caught by chance. Look at each of the subs doing work currently for Verizon. I would wager most of them are illegals. Sure there are Anglos mixed in, just to make it look somewhat legal. I was listening to some of them a couple of weeks ago, and from the tone of discussion, they were not legal so did not argue with the "boss". Verizon should be hauled off and fined also.

You are correct Jersey-Girl. It's a sad state of affairs when it takes a "popularity contest" to get judges to do what they should have been doing all along.

Were sentences like this the norm, we wouldn't be facing situations like this and then we could make "child molestation" the current movement, or DUI drivers, or drug dealers or whatever.

He should have gotten at least 1 year per illegal and a $10,000 fine per illegal plus a fine of 10 times the savings he kept from not paying social security, low pay, no benefits, no workers comp. etc. This was just a slap on the wrist.

well how about them verizon contractors in va beach kempsville is begining to look like little south of the border, its kinda stupid just the sub gets slapped, does anyone from verizon go to jail , or just the subcontractor ,verizon has no clue its subcontractor uses illegal help , yeah right

Because of the current political view of immigration reform, this person received a harsher sentence than most sex offenders and those convicted of DUI... what a world we live in!