County requires developer to make sure all workers are legal

For the first time, Beaufort County is requiring developers to verify that all workers on a job site are legal as a condition of getting the go-ahead on a project.

County Council on Monday injected the issue of workers' immigration status into agreements with the two developers of the proposed 1,252-home Okatie Village community on S.C. 170. The developers, Hilton Head Island's Jim Robinson and La Casa Real Estate Development, agreed to the requirement.

Several immigration attorneys in the state, county officials and a spokeswoman for the state Chamber of Commerce said the provision is a first in South Carolina.

However, a local attorney said the agreement could be vulnerable to legal challenges.

Council members insisted on the language during negotiations regarding Okatie Village as one of the concessions the developers had to make in exchange for getting permission to build more homes and retail space than is allowable under county zoning rules. Three separate agreements with the same language on worker verification were approved Thursday by the council's Land Management Committee. Those three agreements were approved by the council Monday on the first of three required readings.

"Verification of status may be demanded on the site at any time" by the developers of the property, as well as the county, the agreements states.

The agreements also require "contractors and subcontractors to sign sworn affidavits that all workers in their employ have been verified as to legal status ... "

County administrator Gary Kubic explained the reasoning behind the requirement, saying, "A lot of the situations involving illegal workers are in the residential housing industry. That's why the provision is in there."

Traditionally, verifying the status of workers has been left to employers and federal immigration authorities. Hilton Head immigration attorney Melissa Azallion of Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier said allowing a developer to check the status of workers employed by a construction company is "legally problematic" and raises privacy and discrimination issues.

Kubic said the county's legal representative, McNair Law Firm is still reviewing the development agreements and will weigh in on the legality of the provision by the council's next vote on Okatie Village, which is scheduled for Sept. 22.

Kubic said he has no problem with the county being on the front line of the immigration debate going on in the state. The county has also made waves with a program that audits businesses for federally-required immigration documents.

"We like to consider ourselves in Beaufort County as being on the cutting edge."