Panel Approves Strict Ban on Hiring of Aliens

Sweeping immigration reforms could apply even to homeowners who hire an illegal alien as domestic help under changes voted Monday by a House Judiciary subcommittee.

The panel, taking up controversial legislation designed to curb unlawful immigration, approved major revisions severely toughening a proposed ban on the hiring of undocumented workers.

An immigration package approved by the Senate in September would seek to make it harder for illegal aliens to get jobs by imposing sanctions on most employers who knowingly hire them--but it would have exempted those with three or fewer workers from the penalties.

Would Drop Exemption

However, on a 5-4 vote, the Democratic-controlled House panel approved a change that would drop the exemption and make it illegal for anyone to hire even an individual undocumented worker. In theory, the so-called “Beverly Hills amendment” could subject homeowners who hire undocumented maids or gardeners to the same penalties as large factory owners or agricultural growers who hire hundreds of illegal laborers.

The change, which could also affect small “mom-and-pop” shops, could imperil backing for immigration reform in much of the established business community, which so far has given only lukewarm support to the concept.

And, in another action sure to increase discomfort among growers and other large business interests, the panel approved on a voice vote an amendment that would require employers to determine if undocumented workers were on the payroll of many of the subcontractors they hire. The provision was designed to allay fears of critics who contend employers could get around sanctions by relying on independent labor contractors to do most of their hiring.

“Those two (provisions) are going to turn the Chamber of Commerce, small business people and general contractors berserk,” said Richard Fajardo, an official of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, which opposes the concept of any employer sanctions.

Across the Board

But Rep. John Bryant (D-Tex.), who proposed the tightened rules, argued that, to be meaningful, sanctions had to be applied across the board.

“Either we are about the business of discouraging immigration against the law or we are not,” Bryant said.

The full House Judiciary Committee must still endorse the changes, but House panels usually accept the recommendations of their subcommittees.

In other significant action on the bill, the subcommittee:

--Approved a proposal by Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach) that would require state governments to swap data on welfare recipients with federal immigration authorities and refuse welfare benefits to persons deemed to be in the country illegally.

--Defeated an attempt to expand the legislation so that all illegal aliens who entered the country before 1985 would be eligible for amnesty. The House measure would extend amnesty to those who arrived before 1982, while the more restrictive Senate version would legitimize only aliens who could prove they crossed the border before 1980 and never left the country.

--Added a provision eliminating the attorney general’s discretion to deny an undocumented alien amnesty if that alien met all requirements in the legislation for legalization.