Feds suggest state GOP (CA) broke law in hiring immigrant to key post

[babylonsister]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/27/MNGDPQMLUJ1.DTL&feed=rss.news

Feds suggest state GOP broke law in hiring immigrant to key post

Carla Marinucci, Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writers

Wednesday, June 27, 2007


California Republican Party officials might have violated federal immigration law by hiring an Australian immigrant for a top finance post without ever demanding to see his proof of legal residence, immigration officials said Tuesday.

Ron Nehring, who heads the California Republican Party, admitted Tuesday that he -- and as far as he knows, any party officials -- never saw the green card that would prove that Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen hired as the state GOP's chief operations officer, was a legal resident.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division said Tuesday the law is clear that "it is the responsibility of the employers to check and see that someone is legally in the country and eligible to work."

The Chronicle reported Sunday that Kamburowski -- an Australian immigrant who was hired as the GOP's chief operations officer in March to oversee the party's multi-million-dollar campaign accounts -- was ordered deported in 2001, later was jailed on visa violations in 2004 and since has filed a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit against U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials, according to court documents on file in U.S. District Court.

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