Businesses take pledge not to hire illegal immigrants
By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer
"As the pot continues to boil in inland cities over illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them, a local publisher and several residents are taking action.
Frustrated with the government's seeming inability to stop illegal immigration, Temecula resident Rick Reiss, 39, and Nancy Knight, the editor of a local monthly newspaper, got together and began laying the groundwork for a registry of local businesses who follow legal hiring practices.
"I was trying to come up with something that people can do individually," Reiss said. The idea occurred to him, he said, when he recently refinanced his home to make several improvements.
"We were hiring contractors and I realized we had no way of knowing if the workers they bring out are illegal immigrants working for $10 a day," said Reiss, who also writes a biweekly free-lance column published in The Californian.
That's when it dawned on him that one way of combating the problem would be to let residents know which businesses in the Southwest County hire only legal workers, so that consumers could decide where they wanted to spend their dollars, he said.
The idea led to his meetings with Knight, publisher of the Murrieta-based Bugle monthly newspaper, and other residents who say they are frustrated with the illegal immigrant problem.
Knight said Friday that she immediately realized what a powerful idea Reiss had.
"If the government isn't going to enforce our laws, then the consumer needs to do it," she said.
And in the spring the publishing company compiled a registry of businesses pledging not to hire illegal immigrants on its Web site, www.thebugle.com., under the moniker Southwest California Business Alliance.
Free Internet business listings are offered to any local companies that send in their information along with the following statement: "I only employ legal citizens and/or immigrants with legal worker status as required by law."
So far, 22 companies are on the list, but Reiss, some business owners and a local Republican Party official said last week they expect the number to grow."
Source: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/29/news/top_stories/17_17_018_28_04.txt
By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer
"As the pot continues to boil in inland cities over illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them, a local publisher and several residents are taking action.
Frustrated with the government's seeming inability to stop illegal immigration, Temecula resident Rick Reiss, 39, and Nancy Knight, the editor of a local monthly newspaper, got together and began laying the groundwork for a registry of local businesses who follow legal hiring practices.
"I was trying to come up with something that people can do individually," Reiss said. The idea occurred to him, he said, when he recently refinanced his home to make several improvements.
"We were hiring contractors and I realized we had no way of knowing if the workers they bring out are illegal immigrants working for $10 a day," said Reiss, who also writes a biweekly free-lance column published in The Californian.
That's when it dawned on him that one way of combating the problem would be to let residents know which businesses in the Southwest County hire only legal workers, so that consumers could decide where they wanted to spend their dollars, he said.
The idea led to his meetings with Knight, publisher of the Murrieta-based Bugle monthly newspaper, and other residents who say they are frustrated with the illegal immigrant problem.
Knight said Friday that she immediately realized what a powerful idea Reiss had.
"If the government isn't going to enforce our laws, then the consumer needs to do it," she said.
And in the spring the publishing company compiled a registry of businesses pledging not to hire illegal immigrants on its Web site, www.thebugle.com., under the moniker Southwest California Business Alliance.
Free Internet business listings are offered to any local companies that send in their information along with the following statement: "I only employ legal citizens and/or immigrants with legal worker status as required by law."
So far, 22 companies are on the list, but Reiss, some business owners and a local Republican Party official said last week they expect the number to grow."
Source: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/29/news/top_stories/17_17_018_28_04.txt