City contractors must check workers’ status

Mission Viejo will require its contractors to check the immigration status of their workers with a free, federal Internet program beginning in July, the City Council decided Monday.

In a 5-0 vote, the city became one of the few in the U.S. to require contractors to participate in the Basic Pilot program of the Department of Homeland Security. The vote also requires that city employees’ status be checked.

Mission Viejo, which employs 107 workers directly, uses contractors for landscaping, trash removal and street sweeping. A similar ordinance in Hazelton, Penn., is being challenged on the grounds that only the federal government should enforce immigration law.