Published: September 06, 2008 06:44 pm         

AG to decide if company broke Mississippi law

Jackson — Attorney General Jim Hood’s office is determining whether a new state law was violated by Howard Industries in Laurel, the site of the largest workplace immigration raid in U.S. history.

“We’ll look at what they’ve done and determine if it’s a violation of state law, as well as determine if we need to enforce it,” Hood told The Associated Press.

The law passed by the 2008 Legislature and signed by Gov. Haley Barbour requires public and private employers in the state to use the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system to check new workers’ immigration status.

The law took effect July 1 for state agencies and for private businesses with state contracts. It takes effect Jan. 1 for all other businesses.

Under the new law, any company found guilty of employing illegal immigrants could lose public contracts for up to three years and lose the right to do business in Mississippi for one year.

The law also says it’s a felony for an illegal immigrant to accept a job in Mississippi. Conviction carries up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The agencies in charge of enforcement of the law are the Department of Employment Security, Mississippi State Tax Commission, Department of Human Services, secretary of state and attorney general.

“Our folks have tried to get a meeting of all those agencies that have authority,” Hood said this week.

On Aug. 25, nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody during the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid. Eight of them faced criminal charges for allegedly using false Social Security and residency identification. Most of the others were sent to a federal facility in Jena, La.

For the new state law to have any effect, Mississippi officials must determine if the company has a current state contract, and if so, whether any of the suspected illegal workers were hired since July 1. Officials also must determine if the company used the E-Verify system.

Michael Howard, president of the Laurel company, wasn’t available for comment, his secretary said Thursday.

After the raid, Howard Industries said in a statement the company “runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for its jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.”

“We do not have a contract with them,” Charity Elkins, administrative assistant at the state Department of Finance and Administration’s purchasing and travel office said Thursday.

DFA oversees the state budget after legislators approve it, and also oversees most state buildings.

Elkins said there’s no centralized purchasing for Mississippi; each agency handles its own contracts.

David Litchliter, executive director of the Department of Information Technology Services, said his agency has “convenience” contracts for commodities, such as computers, with Howard Industries. That means a school district, for instance, could choose to negotiate with the company because it’s been cleared by the state, he said.

“If Howard used the E-Verify system to check those employees, then they’re not liable if they checked out,” said state Sen. Lee Yancy, R-Brandon, one of the authors of the new law.