Contractor blamed for suspected illegal aliens found in van

cheap labor is never cheap. Someone, somewhere will have to pay the price in the long run. If it is not illegals selling themselves to the lowest bidder and forcing out citizens with the accredited skills to do the job, then it is our social services that will bear the brunt of providing care and support to both illegals and citizens. We need to look past the profit line and consider safety and quality of life as the defining factors that determine business and security policy of our country.

is the principal consideration in the hiring of workers we should never be surprised when illegals who will work for cheap take each and every job possible. And as long as quarterly profits remain the highest possible corporate consideration for corporate executives, any shock or horror that only illegals are employed is equally wrong. As is currently the case employers have no effective and efficient way to check on immigration status they too are helpless (though for the reasons above they are not exactly objecting to the situation either). Had President Bush's immigration bill of 2000 been approved we would not be in this situation. One of the enduring embarrassment of the time Republicans controlled Congress is that they did not pass the President's bill then. Shame on the Congress for not having fixed this years ago!!!!!

It's amazing to see the comments from people claiming these illegals must have committed other crimes while in America. Have any of you been to Mexico? And I'm not talking Cancun. Go to a border town, you'd want to move to America too. These people only want better for their families, and while I realize there are procedures that need to be followed, not everyone has the capacity to realize this and do it correctly. How about instead of automatically deporting, we give them an opportunity to become US citizens? Have we forgotten that many of us were immigrants? At least these people are working, not draining the welfare pool and wasting public housing.

This country has a lot of "legal" immigrants. People who came to this country, went through the process and became Americans. Not people who run through our borders, try to force their values on our society and take advantage of our heathcare and welfare systems without paying a dime in taxes to support these programs. I have a solution. If you are so blind by ignorance that you can't see the problem we are facing as a society with illegals draining our resources without contributiing to our systems then it's alarming you have the right to vote!

This whole issue of illegal aliens residing/working in United States could be easily solved if our linguini-spined politicians in Washington, DC, only had the will to solve it. Sentence the illegal employers, such as the CEO/President of Ivy Smith, to jail for 6 months for the first offense, one year in jail for the second offense, and if they are really stupid and haven't learned from their first two trips to jail, three years in prison, the "big house," for the third offense of employing illegal aliens. It wouldn't take long before there would be no motivation to come to this country illegally, and there would be a steady stream of illegals heading back to their country of origin to find work there. It's not difficult, it just takes a little backbone in Congress. Instead, led by buffoons like John McCain and Ted Kennedy, Congress is considering how they will give citizenship to all 15 million illegal aliens. It's the epitomy of stupidity.

Ivy H. Smith Co. is a disgrace! Ivy should be the one deported to another country. His crime is the worst of the worst. Fist he is destroying our country and secondly he is exploiting these people for his own benefit. Please do not tell me that he did not have a very big idea that they were illegals. This country needs to make an example of Ivy and to every contractor that employs these illegals. How dare him!The sad and very sick part of this crime is that our country will let him get away with this atrocious act. Homeland security is a total joke by the Bush administration and this proves that it is just right wing rhetoric. Ivy has cheated the American People, he has cheated the contractors that try to make an honest living, he has cheated our fragile economic system and he has cheated the immigrants that he exploits for higher profit. You really cannot sink any lower! Tidewater builders and contractors are doing this same act all over our city! Stop it now!

The contractor knew the status of those workers. I always have top have people, (self included) an I-9 form. If you are here illegally you should be deported, at your home countries expense. If the Mexican government cares about its people it would not be so lazy and make for a better economy there. We need the border fence, and this is proof positive NAFTA isn't working. The contractor should spend time in prison for his crime. I live in Florida now. The problem is here tenfold. Locally here they even busted a ring of illegals from India, and sent them home. People who came by ocean liners in the late 1800's, and early 1900's came to blend into the United States melting pot. They came legally. At least eighty percent were even checked for things like lice, trachoma, and other health issues. We should check for this as well. Why should we have another nations health problems surface here as well.
Again fry the contractor, and send all illegals packing.

First I leave Verizon for a Voip service. Verizon sues the Voip and I go to Verizons own Voip which they claim to have invented. Service is worse than ever...unusable really. Plus they sent equipment that was incomplete and they were dishonest. Now I am w/ AT&T and the service works wonderfully. However, how is it that Verizon charges more than all of the rest and offers the worst service? They claim to own the tech that makes it possible but theirs works the worst. Could it be that w/o Voip I can only use Verizon here? Maybe. Could it be thatthey want us to pay more for their services while they pay less for labor? Appears to be. What do they think we will pay their inflated bill w/ if the money is heading south? What about the tax base?

Yes, a bunch like this were in our backyards(Great Neck Area of Virginia Beach) last summer laying cable..none spoke English. And, yes, city government, it was very very disturbing...and just as scary...layers of subcontractors..

Are hired by 'temp work agencies'. They (the agency) get paid 'X' amnt an hr and then pay the illegal a lesser amnt. There-fore, the Temp Agency is making $$$ off every illegal they employ. There is where the crack-down needs to be focused. But, on the other hand, they (the illegals) are usually doing work that no 'american' will do (manual labor). So? Unless we kick the Welfare scofflaws OFF welfare.......where will this work force come from ? (nothing more frustrating than to see 11 adults living in Section 8 Housing for little or nothing a month, getting food-stamps/welfare and WIC, working part-time @ McD's and driving a Lexus )

Anyone going through the legal hiring procedure in the US must complete an I-9 Form (Dept. of Homeland Security document) attesting-under penalty of perjury-that they can legally work in the US. The onus is on the employer to review and verify the required documents that prove the individual's eligibility to legally work in the US. The employer also attests-under penalty of perjury-that they have properly executed this procedure. Obviously, there are many employers who blatantly ignore the laws of the land, and this needs to be addressed. I encourage everyone who reads this-and has the desire to be a part of a forum addressing the illegal immigrant issue-to attend a meeting on 5/18, 6 pm-Surfside Oceanfront-1211 Atlantic Ave., & find out what we can do to make our community a law-abiding community. HelpSaveVirginia (chapter of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps), is the sponsor. City officials have been invited to attend; it will be interesting to see if any do. Will you be there? Hope so!

Ivy Smith worked in my yard last spring and I thought the work was great, considering the task at hand. I have never seen people (mostly hispanic) work so hard. Have any of you ever been to the countries that most of these immigrants come from? Didn't think so. Don't blame the workers, in fact you probably shouldn't even blame the contractors. Blame the big corporation, whose greed is the reason for the low wages and the hiring of cheaper labor. Don't you think this contractor would have hired all legal workers if he could afford to? I think a lot of the comments made were based on a racist point of view and an ignorant point of view. Was this entire country not based on immigration? So unless you are native american we are all illegal immigrants as far as I'm concerned. How quickly some people forget our past.

As a Va Beach native, I still read my hometown paper even though I live in Northern VA now. Things are 100 times worse in this area. This kind of thing is very common here. Please continue to write your Congressman and tell your Mayor. If you do not then your tax dollars might be used to fund offices for the illegals to wait at when they are looking for work. We have several in different areas. Tax dollars pay for offices to be used so workers are not hanging around Mcdonald's or 7-11. Bathrooms, heat, A/C. Businesses with the signs on their doors written only in a foreign language. You talk about discrimination??? When something is written in anything other than English, I can't tell if if is a cleaners, or a clothing shop or a restaurant. Therefore, the owner gets the clientele they desire. This all needs to stop. As a Republican, if the next Prez candidate does not do something about Immigration I might be crossing the aisle. Proud to be American! and not pressing one 4 English!!!!!

Maybe the CWA (Communications Workers of America Union) should let the illegals join. That would eliminate the benefits of using the subs (which are just there as a legal firebreak).

Not now! Need I say anymore?

The employment eligibility verification basic pilot program is a voluntary program offered by the DHS via computer and can check status on a employee within minutes this is a free program offered to employers. This should be a mandatory program. Throw the employer in jail and fine them, then deport the illegals. Time to enforce the law!!!!

When an employer has employees that HE can not communicate with in English that should be the tip off unless he is the owner of an establishment catering mostly a certain group (I.E. Ethnic resturant owners with employees of same ethnicity). Even then when dealing with the general public most of his customers with place orders in English. Our law makers must put in place the necessary safe guards to protect the country from illegals (I.E. no drivers' liscense for illegals) overwhelming our communities by draining our education, medical and social services systems. All of those who are here illegally should be considered criminals and treated as such. To not pay the costs of rounding them up and deporting them is severely out weighed by the financial burden they place on today's tax payers and the generations that will follow. The next President must have the backbone and the will to resolve this issue. The current one doesn't.

Employers are required to fill out and file DHS Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) for every person hired (whether they look legal, illegal, or what not).
I bet these particular employee's forms were "misplaced," or "being reviewed" following the bust.
I think employers should incur a hefty fine (aka $25K or more apiece) to encourage proper review, filing, and oversight of their employees.

We can instanly and accurately check anyone's Credit Card Status with one swipe of a card, yet business people continually bemoan the redtape, delays and incorrect information that they encounter in Immigration Status Checks. I bet these same Money Hungry Hypocrites would quickly have that problem solved, if the huge profits was in the elimination of Illegals from the workorce, rather than in the hiring and keeping this source of Cheap, Illegal Workers, (to the great detriment of the American Worker and Society,) on their payrolls. The best way to solve the problem of Illegal Immigration is to make it so expensive, through fines, lawsuits, jailtime and so on to these employers that they will quickly get the message of the great cost of indulging in this practise!

There is not a system in place for employers to check citizenship status of employees. All employers can check are DMV records. Some States glady give driver liscences to illegals. There is not a system on a State level nor a National Level. On Capitol Hill they have been debating this for years to no avail.
So I don't know how these contractors are conducting " investigations ". There isn't a national or state database showing who is legal.

They knew they were hiring illegal aliens. Trying to save some money is what that was all about. Im glad they got caught!

I feel Verizon should have some accountability. I'm sure profitability played a major role in the hiring practices of the contractors. I would be interested in knowing what Verizon was allowing for the hourly rate of these contractors. Is this another case of work which an employee is unable to find qualified legal workers because of the type of work and pay?

Every business involved with an illegal immigrant bust always blames someone else. Either way the businesses are at fault. It is obvious if you drive around and see all of the construction workers that are more then likely illegal. I say lets start off fixing our problem by checking every employee in construction, then hospitality and then every other area of business and see who turns up illegal. This will have to be done by just showing up to the job site so no one has time to scramble or alert anyone. This is a notice to all businesses, hire illegals and one way or another you will lose business. I hope each of you lose your business for trying to skirt around the law and hire illegals. I do not wish to subsidize the cheap labor they provide businesses by paying taxes for services they receive but have not earned. This is the beginning of the end if you hire illegals. I hope its the end because I am tired of businesses being above the law and depressing wages!

Okay ICE here is your big chance to set the standard. You need to take Ivy and Verizon down! Take 'em down hard for this! We need a strong message to be sent here that we will not tolerate companies hiring illegal aliens. We won't take excuses like "we didn't know". Employers Must Know! The only policy these two entities have is believing the job application which by itself as a tool to determine status which is ridiculous and Ivy and Verizon know this yet hired anyway. The other issue here is labor. Verizon knows it can't afford an American Fiber Optic Line Installer at $24 bucks an hour which is the national median hourly wage so it looks the other way for the minimum wage illegal alien! Lastly, what if these guys were terrorists? Ivy, Verizon, do you want that on your heads? Get with it! Wake up!

Last year the fiber optic lines were laid in my neighborhood. There was a van waiting for the Mexican workers, so they could all pile in at the end of the day. It didn't take much to figure out that they were probably illegal aliens.

If it had happened this year, after that horrendous accident involving the drunk illegal who killed the two Va Beach teen girls by plowing into them at the stoplight, I would have notified authorities.

I think a blind eye has been turned to this sort of thing long enough!

Whoever hired them needs to go to jail. Who knows how many other crimes these illegals have been a part of while in this country, and companies like Ivy H. Smith encourage them to come here. They should be fined massive amounts of money and shut down.

Verizon didn't know? Oh pleeezze. . What liars. They should (any company) that is found to have illegals working for it, in any capacity, should face a minimum of a $500,000 fine. With the money we can build a huge electrified wall to keep those out who shouldn't be here to begin with. Another reason I don't use Verizon.

Follow this case,the most Ivy Smith will get is a slap on the wrist!We'll be lucky if they even deport the illegals.

Are these illegals doing the jobs Americans refuse to do?

Historically, illegal immigrants worked in unskilled or low skilled areas. Now, illegal immigrants are performing skilled labor like the story above at a very low wage, compared to established wages.

I am a diesel mechanic and my wages are influenced by cheap illegal labor. Other professions are also affected.

Until the govt establishes a reliable and easy method to determine who can legally work here, this will continue and affect more professions.

I can buy a car on credit in 2 hours but an employer cannot verify employees right to work.

Mexico is not the only country that sends its trained workforce to the USA to work illegally.

Finally! Ivy smith needs to be made responsible for the illegals they hire. for the verizon work, They are sending these very unexperienced nonenglish speaking workers out to work on our properties. Believe me, I know. Our entire driveway was torn up without permission, ditches were dug, plants and trees were ruined. There was no care taken what so ever. When you tried to talk to them they handed you a card that said they don't speak english and they will send a supervisor---yeah, ten days later. After 6 months of this and many unresponsive calls to Ivy smith, we have an ugly, patched up driveway that will be $ 5,000.00 to replace. you can also see their "work" by the patches of grassless yard, and trees and bushes that were cut apart.