WARNED TWICE, DID NOTHING

CORKER'S REFUSAL TO RESPOND
TO INS WARNINGS REQUIRES CHANGE IN AD

NASHVILLE -- Ford for Tennessee is revising its current ad regarding an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) raid on Bob Corker's Memphis construction site to reflect the fact that INS agents twice warned Mr. Corker's company about illegals working there only three weeks before they arrested and deported four illegals working on the site.

The new ad, "Twice," was necessitated by published comments attributed to Corker campaign manager Ben Mitchell that the initial ad, called "Action," was "totally untrue and inaccurate," and that public discussion of federal agents raiding Mr. Corker's Memphis job site constituted a "personal attack."

In January 1988, Shelby County officials were quoted in the Memphis Commercial Appeal expressing concerns over illegal aliens working at the construction site of the Riverset Apartments on Mud Island, where Mr. Corker's company, Bencor Corp. was the general contractor. Days later, INS records show that federal agents conducted "educational visits" on the Bencor site on Feb. 10 and 24, 1988, meeting with Bencor officials, as well as the company's subcontractors. On March 16, 1988, INS agents raided the same construction site.

Section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed by Congress in 1986, makes it a violation of federal law to "hire" illegal aliens. The law states that companies who contract for illegal labor are considered to have "hired" the illegals just as if they had employed them directly. After years of failing to enforce the law, the U.S. Department of Justice now is prosecuting general contractors under this law for their subcontractors hiring illegals.

"Bob Corker likes to talk tough on illegal immigration. But the law says he hired illegal aliens. Our ad is a completely accurate account of events that provide a window into Bob Corker's character," said Michael Powell, Ford campaign senior advisor. "Bob Corker's company said it knew the status of everyone working on the site, it was warned twice by the INS, and yet Bob Corker failed to take responsibility for following the law then, and he refuses to be accountable now."

"Where was there any effort to comply with the law after Shelby County officials, the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the INS all warned Bob Corker about illegals on his job? Bob Corker's company knew who was working on his jobsite, they were warned about who was working on his jobsite, and they violated the law, anyway. Saying they bent over backwards after the INS agents raid is like Enron saying it cooperated after the FBI showed up with search warrants. It's too little, too late."