Illegal Immigrant Worked 5 Years at Huffington Home : Politics: Candidate says his wife hired the woman. He says proper taxes were paid and a green card applied for.

Republican candidate Mike Huffington, whose tough stand against illegal immigration is a cornerstone of his Senate campaign, employed a woman at his Santa Barbara home for about five years who was in the country illegally, his campaign acknowledged Wednesday.

The woman’s job ended last year, shortly after Huffington was sworn into office as a freshman congressman and several months before he announced his bid to challenge Sen. Dianne Feinstein, sources told The Times. The woman had cared for the Huffingtons’ two daughters--now ages 3 and 5--since they were born.

Huffington declined to talk with The Times on Wednesday. But in a live television interview Wednesday night, the candidate said his wife was responsible for hiring the illegal worker, which is a violation of federal law. He then accused Feinstein of hiring illegal immigrants at her home, but offered no evidence of the allegation.

“My wife did hire someone, found out that she was illegal, applied for a green card and filled out all of the paperwork and paid the taxes,” he said on KCAL-TV in response to a question about The Times’ story. “But what is ironic is . . . we’ve been told by people who know a lot about (Feinstein’s) staff, she too had hired two people who were illegal. The question I would ask Mrs. Feinstein is, did she pay the taxes as my wife did?”

Feinstein campaign manager Kam Kuwata hotly rejected the allegation. “That charge is an outright lie. It’s just typical when he is caught breaking the law, his first response is to lie. Now his campaign is in great jeopardy.”

Earlier in the day, after a campaign event in San Diego where Huffington spoke about his support for Proposition 187--the anti-illegal immigration measure on the November ballot--the candidate was asked if he had ever employed an illegal immigrant at his home. He told the San Diego newspaper reporter he did not know of any problem.

Huffington’s campaign released five pages of federal documents Wednesday evening, after being questioned about the issue by The Times, to demonstrate that the candidate’s wife had tried unsuccessfully to obtain papers that would allow the worker to be in the country legally.

According to the documents, the application was made to the U.S. Labor Department on Nov. 13, 1990. The process requires that the employer interview a number of U.S. citizens for the job to demonstrate that the foreign national is the only candidate qualified for the job.

One of the documents released by the campaign was a sworn affidavit from Arianna Huffington saying that she had advertised the position in the Santa Barbara News Press and interviewed at least four applicants.

Arianna Huffington said Wednesday evening that she conducted the interviews and the woman who had already been on their staff for more than a year was the most qualified.

“There was nobody like her,” she said. “She is a wonderful human being. My children adore her.”

She also said the couple paid all of the necessary taxes for the woman. She said the woman left the Huffingtons’ employment shortly after Mike Huffington was sworn into office in January last year. Arianna Huffington said the woman did not want to make the move to Washington with the Huffingtons because she was married.

The document issued by the campaign indicates that the approval for a work certificate was given by the Labor Department on June 5, 1991.

The work certificate, which does not allow the immigrant to remain in the country legally, permits the employer to seek INS approval for immigration. The next step is a years-long process of waiting for a “green card” from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The employee is not allowed to work in the country legally until the green card is issued by the INS. The woman never obtained a green card while working for the Huffingtons.

Since 1986, federal law has made it a crime for employers to hire illegal immigrants. President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act on Nov. 6, 1986, requiring that employers verify workers’ citizenship status when they are hired by requesting personal documents such as a U.S. passport, Social Security card or driver’s license.

The act requires employers to prove the credentials were checked by filling out an immigration document--known as Form I9--that is to be completed by employers within three days of hiring a worker. The document is also to be maintained on file for inspection by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Failure to complete the forms or maintain the records is itself a violation of federal law.

The act provides civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each illegal immigrant hired. Repeat violators may also be prosecuted criminally and face jail terms.

The Times talked to four sources who once worked inside the Huffingtons’ $4-million home in Santa Barbara who confirmed the employment of the illegal worker. They agreed to talk on condition that their names not be used. Huffington’s household staff had more than a dozen employees, including butlers, gardeners, security people, clerical help, drivers, maintenance workers and child care providers.

Huffington’s campaign confirmed the story only after a Times reporter offered specific details of the illegal immigrant’s employment.

The woman began working for the Huffingtons in 1989, the year their first daughter was born. At the time, Mike Huffington claimed separate residences, with the GOP candidate living in Texas where he was an executive of his family’s oil and gas company.

Mike Huffington said he moved to the Santa Barbara home in 1991, after the family company was sold. The candidate was involved in some of the hiring decisions on the staff at the Santa Barbara home, sources told The Times. One source said he was interviewed by both Huffington and his wife for a job in December, 1990.

One source said the illegal worker had also traveled to Washington with the Huffingtons, where they own another home.

In the Senate race, immigration has already been a major issue between the candidates, with both Huffington and Feinstein disputing who would be tougher at enforcing immigration laws.

Huffington staked out the conservative side of the issue last week when he endorsed Proposition 187, the ballot measure that seeks to cut off health and education benefits to illegal immigrants. Feinstein opposes Proposition 187.

Unlike Feinstein, Huffington also supports a constitutional amendment to prevent babies born to illegal immigrants in the United States from automatically becoming U.S. citizens.

“The hostility of this state toward illegal immigration has risen in direct proportion to the weakness of our political leaders to enforce the immigration laws already on the books,” Huffington said last week in announcing his position on Proposition 187.

“We have allowed kids to cross the border, board our buses, use our schools, then return to their country while no one bats an eye,” he said. “We have allowed illegal aliens to stand in line to receive post-earthquake housing aid, reassured that the Immigration and Naturalization Service won’t ask any questions for fear of appearing ‘discriminatory.’

“We have cut corners, looked the other way and sent the wrong message--that breaking the law pays, that only fools go through the proper immigration channels. Well, no more. I believe Proposition 187 will finally draw a line between illegal immigration--which is harmful and divisive--and legal immigration--which is beneficial to the nation and to California.”

In San Diego on Wednesday, Huffington repeated that theme in a discussion about border issues with a campaign crowd of about a dozen people. He also said he does not believe cracking down on those who employ illegal immigrants is a good solution. He said in an interview that he does not support that approach, although it is the current law, unless a tamper-proof identification card is created.

“On the employer sanctions, I think it’s important that we have . . . a tamper-proof identification card, preferably a Social Security card, that says you are a citizen. So if you go to an employer, that employer knows it’s tamper-proof. So if you don’t have it, you’re not a citizen.”

“The employer sanctions to me make a lot of sense,” he added. “My concern is if we don’t have a tamper-proof card, there are forgeries out there and we can’t hold an employer responsible if he has what he thinks is a citizenship paper.” Another speaker at the meeting said, however, that employer sanctions were an important tool in the fight against illegal immigration.

“I think the real answer lies in enforcing the employer sanctions,” said T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a group that represents 4,500 federal employees. “If we cut out the magnet which is attracting people to this country, we won’t have to concentrate so much at the borders.”

Huffington served in Congress when the so-called “nannygate” scandal erupted in Washington over two women considered by President Clinton for the job of attorney general. Last January, Zoe Baird, Clinton’s nominee, withdrew her name from consideration when it was disclosed that she had hired an illegal Peruvian couple for domestic help and she had failed to pay their Social Security taxes.

Two weeks later, Federal Judge Kimba M. Wood withdrew her name after disclosing that she also had hired an illegal immigrant to work in her home as a nanny. Unlike Baird, however, Wood paid taxes and had hired her nanny before federal law made such hiring illegal.

Feinstein’s office said Wednesday that it researched past and present employees at the senator’s home after the Baird and Wood incidents. A spokesman for the senator said there were no illegal immigrants on the staff.

Times staff writers Richard Paddock in San Francisco, Mark Gladstone in Sacramento, Patrick J. McDonnell in Los Angeles and Greg Krikorian in San Diego contributed to this report.