2 Executives of Company That Helped Build Border Fence Sentenced for Hiring Illegal Immigrants

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

2 Executives of Company That Helped Build Border Fence Sentenced for Hiring Illegal Immigrants
03-28-2007 6:42 PM
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO (Associated Press) -- Two executives at a company that once helped build a fence to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border were sentenced Wednesday to six months of home confinement for hiring undocumented workers.

Mel Kay, founder, chairman and president of Golden State Fence Co., and manager Michael McLaughlin had pleaded guilty in federal court to knowingly hiring illegal aliens. U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz ordered each to serve 1,040 hours of community service and spend three years on probation.

Kay was fined $200,000 as part of a plea agreement, and McLaughlin agreed to pay $100,000.

Federal prosecutors took the rare step of seeking prison time after the men acknowledged hiring at least 10 illegal immigrants in 2004 and 2005. The charges carried a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison.

Read more: http://omaha.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8O5FR4O0&_action=validatearticle

[babylonsister]

1. Oh, the irony! nt

[ck4829]

2. K&R - That's rich.

[papau]

3. This was a joke and a prediction a few years ago - the coming irony was not hard to forsee n/t

n/t

[sandnsea]

4. Their right to own a business should be revoked

That's what they do to working stiffs who break the law.

[unlawflcombatnt]

20. I agree

Revoking their business license is not only fitting, it'd directly keep them from doing the same thing in the future. And they should be permanently banned from ever receiving any government contracts- federal, state, or local.

[blondie58]

5. too funny!

in a very sad, pathetic way! Thanks for posting, Omaha Steve.

[DCKit]

6. Wasn't that Stephen Colbert's idea?

Let them build the wall then seal it up behind them while they were taking lunch in Mexico?

[muntrv]

7. What? They couldn't hire the minutemen to build it? LAZY!!!

[MisterP]

9. they want it to be more than two feet high

and not rely on the power of the U.S. flag to keep people out of Festung Amerika

[xchrom]

8. SA-WEET! i will live on that for a week.

[Initech]

10. AHAHAHAHA!!! What irony!

:rofl:

[cascadiance]

11. They are trying to cover their tracks now on Carol Lam's work!

Gotta follow through with sentencing these bums or it will give us another excuse to chuck Gonzales!

Check out this earlier article when these guys got the decision announced on them and NPR covered it. Note the date this was on "All Things Considered" being December 14th. Exactly one week after they fired Ms. Lam, this article gets published about this earlier decision! HMMM!!!!!! I wonder if they are connected. Note the following quotes from the last two paragraphs of this article:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6626823

Border Fence Firm Snared for Hiring Illegal Workers

Listen to this story... by Scott Horsley

...

It is exceptionally rare for those who employ illegal immigrants to face any kind of criminal prosecution, let alone jail time. Earlier this week, for example, immigration raids on six meat-packing plants netted almost 1,300 suspected illegal workers. But no charges were leveled against the company that runs the plants: Swift.

Golden State Fence's attorney, Richard Hirsch, admits his client broke the law. But he says the case proves that construction companies need a guest-worker program.

Perhaps this was a case that Carol Lam actually prosecuted some illegal immigration cases in a fashion that Bushco didn't want her to (with real consequences for Corporate America), and that's what lead to her suddenly being dispensible instead of a convenient punching bag for local politicians ranting about how much immigration cases she prosecuted!

[0rganism]

12. Yesterday's comedy = Today's headlines

Call me crazy, but I remember a time when it was the other way around.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Sounds like a George Carlin joke

"Good Humor man slays 10"....

[Rob H.]

14. Bwah! It's like 'The Onion' come to life!

"Well, of course we wanna keep them illegals out, but hell, we figgered, y'know, since they was already here 'n all...." :silly:

[stillcool]

15. typical...

never any jail time....but..

Golden State, which has 750 employees, saw sales soar from $60 million in 1998 to 150 million in 2004, according to a biography of Kay provided by the company.

sounds like it was worth it.

[NastyRiffraff]

16. You just can't make this shit up

Keep this up, and The Onion will go out of business. All we need are the straight news reports.

[Bozita]

17. Is there a reason for me to not recommend this thread?

Well, I'm recommending it anyway.

[grannylib]

18. Oh dear Lord...that's just dripping with about 47,206 calories of irony...

priceless.

[Vidar]

19. Prison labor is their next step.