[migrawatch-public] So, who's gonna build the fence, again?

Execs sentenced to home detention for hiring illegal immigrants
Published: March 29th, 2007

ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO — The owner of a company that helped build a fence to
keep illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border was sentenced
Wednesday to six months home confinement for hiring workers who were in
the U.S. illegally.
A judge rejected the government’s highly unusual plea for jail
time.
Mel Kay, founder, chairman and president of Golden State Fence Co.,
was sentenced along with Michael McLaughlin, another company executive,
after both pleaded guilty in December to felony charges of knowingly
hiring illegal aliens.
McLaughlin was also given six months home confinement by U.S.
District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz . Each was ordered to log 1,040 hours
of community service and serve three years probation.
Kay was fined $200,000 as part of a plea agreement, and McLaughlin
agreed to pay $100,000.
Federal prosecutors took the extremely rare step of seeking six
months in prison for each defendant after they acknowledged hiring at
least 10 illegal immigrants in 2004 and 2005. The charges carried a
maximum possible penalty of five years in prison.
Moskowitz said he was uneasy with jail time because the company did
not deserve to be “the poster children” for unscrupulous
employers . All of Kay’s workers paid Social Security taxes and
received health benefits, vacation and sick time. Many earned more than
$50,000 a year.

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