There are new developments in the Feb. 11 immigration raid on an Arizona company.
The sheriff's office raided Handyman Maintenance in Phoenix early Feb. 11, which resulted in the arrest of 60 suspected undocumented immigrants.
Handyman Maintenance, also known as HMI, says they did everything in their power to not hire illegal immigrants. They also say E-verify might not be all it is cracked up to be.
There would be no landscaping Feb. 11 for the majority of workers at Handyman Maintenance. At the start of their shift around 6 a.m. they were greeted by armed sheriff's deputies.
For the last several years the company has been contracted to do the landscaping around county buildings such as libraries, the jail and a forensic center.
"The board of supervisors seem to be more concerned with me placing illegal immigrants in a Tent City, which we have thousands in, than they are about illegals being hired,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
Julie Pace, whose law firm represents HMI, says owners of the company went above and beyond the employment requirements and used E-verify on every worker hired after Jan. 1, 2008, but could not do that for all employees. It is illegal to use E-verify on employees hired before then.
"I would prefer that we focus these raids on the companies that aren't paying worker's comp, that aren't paying unemployment, that are paying cash under the table, that are not using E-verify, that are not using I-9's," Pace explained. "There are a lot of companies out there still and I think that is a better use of resources."
She also says she questions E-verify saying she has several clients that had potential employees pass E-verify with stolen or fake identification.
"Numerous companies have employees pass E-verify using counterfeit documents," she said. "It is becoming very common right now."
It seems HMI will keep their contract with the county and will now be hiring new employees. Several calls to the board of supervisors were not returned.