Critics question funding of day-labor site
By Associated Press
June 9, 2006
HOUSTON - Some residents are at odds with city officials over the use of federal funds to operate a day-labor site that could be used by illegal immigrants to find work.
Members of the City Council on Wednesday delayed approving a $100,000 contract extension with a nonprofit group to manage the day-labor center, which provides a gathering place for workers to wait for jobs.
Houston plans to use funds from the federal Community Development Block Grant Program to fund the center.
"Mayor White and members of the City Council, you are aiding and abetting illegal aliens, and that is a felony," Joleen Reynolds, past president of Texas Immigration Reform, said at a council session this week.
But Mayor Bill White said it's not illegal to use the federal funds for the center. He said he believes there are enough votes on the council to approve the funding when it comes up again next week.
"We don't think it's a violation of federal law, and neither does the Bush administration," White said.
The nonprofit law firm Judicial Watch counters by pointing to federal laws that make it illegal to aid in any act that encourages an illegal immigrant to reside in the United States, as well as those that prohibit the hiring of illegal immigrants.
"There's a certain irony that federal funds are being used to violate federal law," said Chris Farrell, the group's director.
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Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
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