Undocumented workers are so essential to the food industry nationwide that the National Restaurant Association has made stopping the Sensenbrenner-King bill its top priority in Congress this year.
'We are equal people'
"We value the work done by our employees, documented or not," said John Gay, the group's chief of government affairs and public policy in Washington.
"It's not like they broke into the bank to rob it," said Gay. "They broke into the bank to sweep the floor."
The Sensenbrenner-King bill would increase fines against employers who hire illegal workers, in some cases by tens of thousands of dollars per violation. It would also classify as "alien smugglers" the groups - including employers, churches and charities - that knowingly and "with reckless disregard" hire or help the immigrants. Migrants would be subject to criminal prosecution.
The restaurant association and most immigrant advocates back alternative legislation, drafted by Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.), that ultimately would allow undocumented immigrants to become legal residents.
2006-09-22
08:59:16
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