The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Virginia -- A contractor who hired illegal immigrants to dig ditches for a Verizon Communications project was sentenced Friday to 14 months in prison.
Robert Buttery Sr., 53, of Fauquier County pleaded guilty to hiring, housing and transporting undocumented workers for his company, B&B Cable. He was caught after a state trooper stopped a van on Interstate 264 last summer and discovered 14 of his workers in the back.
U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman denied a request from Buttery's attorney to spare his client jail time.
The lawyer, George Yates of Virginia Beach, pleaded with the judge to take a political stand.
"Mr. Buttery is a small potato," Yates said. "There are millions of Americans committing crimes by hiring illegal aliens and we turn the other way."
"I don't quite understand where you're coming from," Friedman said.
"I'm just asking the court to put this in context," Yates said, noting there are an estimated 20 million illegal immigrants working in the country.
"Depending on who gets elected, it may very well be legal to hire these people," Yates continued. "John McCain doesn't want to send them back. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama don't want to send them back."
"My job is to follow the law," Friedman interrupted, adding that he cannot be concerned with political matters.
Posted by tyne at March 9, 2008