Thread: 26 taken into custody during ICE raid at Korean market in San Diego CA.

26 taken into custody during ICE raid at Zion Market in Clairemont Mesa

Posted: 1:36 PM, Feb 13, 2019
Updated: 3 minutes ago
By: Zac Self



Photo by: Televisa


SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- More than two dozen people were taken into custody during an ICE raid on a popular Korean grocery store in Clairemont Mesa Wednesday.

According to the agency, the raid happened at a Zion Market on the 7600 block of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

ICE said in a news release that 26 people working at the market were found to be in the U.S. without authorization.

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All 26 were temporarily taken into custody before being released pending the outcome of their immigration cases, ICE said.

The operation is part of an ongoing worksite enforcement investigation that started during an employment verification audit.

“Worksite enforcement operations and investigations are important for strengthening public safety and national security, while eliminating worker exploitation, child labor and other illegal practice within the workforce,” David Shaw, special agent in charge of HSI in San Diego.

In 2018, Homeland Security Investigations opened nearly 7,000 worksite investigations compared to 1,691 in 2017.

https://www.10news.com/news/local-ne...lairemont-mesa

ICE raids popular Korean market, detains 26 workers

POSTED 11:32 AM, FEBRUARY 13, 2019, BY MATTHEW MEYER, UPDATED AT 01:19PM, FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Crime scene tape blocks off the entrance to Zion Market, a popular Korean grocery store, after a raid by ICE agents.

SAN DIEGO — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the popular Korean grocery store Zion Market Wednesday.

The market, which specializes in a variety of Asian groceries, was raided in the late morning as part of an investigation related to “the hiring and employment of individuals not legally authorized to work in the United States,” an ICE spokesperson said.

During the raid, 26 workers were determined to not be working in the US legally. They were temporarily taken into custody and the released pending the outcome of their immigration cases, according to ICE.

“San Diego Special Agents are focused on bringing to justice those employers who knowingly break the law, and hire an illegal workforce causing unfair disadvantages to those companies that do comply,” said David Shaw, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego.

Any criminal charges or penalties will be coordinated through the US Department of Justice.

https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/02/13/...korean-market/

All 26 were temporarily taken into custody before being released pending the outcome of their immigration cases, ICE said.

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News Releases

WORKSITE ENFORCEMENT

02/13/2019

ICE Homeland Security Investigations execute federal search warrant during worksite enforcement operation at local market

26 unauthorized workers arrested on immigration administrative charges



SAN DIEGO – Special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations executed a federal warrant during a worksite enforcement operation at a San Diego market today. During the operation, 26 individuals working at the market were determined to be in the United States without authorization. They were temporarily taken into custody and released pending the outcome of their immigration case.

Today’s operation is related to an ongoing worksite enforcement investigation that was initiated during an I-9 audit – one of the most powerful tools ICE uses to ensure that businesses are complying with U.S. employment laws.

“HSI San Diego Special Agents are focused on bringing to justice those employers who knowingly break the law, and hire an illegal workforce causing unfair disadvantages to those companies that do comply,” said David Shaw, special agent in charge of HSI in San Diego. “Worksite enforcement operations and investigations are important for strengthening public safety and national security, while eliminating worker exploitation, child labor and other illegal practice within the workforce.”

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 requires employers to verify the identity and work eligibility of all individuals they hire, and to document that information using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. After the business owner is issued a notice of intent (NOI) to audit the company’s hiring records, employers are required to produce their I-9 records within three business days, after which ICE will conduct the audit.

HSI’s worksite strategy continues to focus on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly break the law, and the use of I-9 audits and civil fines to encourage compliance with the law.

The investigation remains ongoing. Any potential criminal charges or other penalties will be coordinated with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In fiscal year 2018, HSI opened 6,848 worksite investigations compared to 1,691 in FY17; initiated 5,981 I-9 audits compared to 1,360; and made 779 criminal and 1,525 administrative worksite-related arrests compared to 139 and 172, respectively; all of these categories surged by 300 to 750 percent over the previous fiscal year.
Criminal indictments and convictions remained at a steady level compared to previous years, but those numbers are also expected to rise due to many ongoing investigations, which can take months to years to fully develop, according to HSI.

In fiscal year 2018, HSI saw 72 managers indicted compared to 71 in FY17, and 49 managers convicted in FY18 versus 55 in FY17.

As part of HSI’s worksite surge in FY18, San Diego HSI agents opened 302 worksite investigations and initiated 282 audits. San Diego HSI agents expect to initiate another 265 worksite audits in the San Diego area of responsibility during FY19.

Last Reviewed/Updated: 02/14/2019

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ic...uring-worksite

The types of workplace immigration investigations that can lead to operations like the one that took place at Zion Market in Kearny Mesa earlier this month have been surging recently.

Maya Srikrishnan
February 27, 2019


Immigration agents arrested 26 workers during an operation at Zion Market in Kearny Mesa in February. / Photo by Maya Srikrishnan

Federal immigration officials have massively ramped up their enforcement efforts in workplaces across the country over the last year.

While certain aspects of immigration enforcement tend to dominate the news – arrests of longtime community members at their homes, or sending troops to the border – the government’s oversight of businesses and the workers they employ often flies under the radar.

Locally, the crackdown on employers was driven home earlier this month, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations conducted an enforcement operation at Zion Market, a large Korean grocery store in Kearny Mesa.

ICE officials detained 26 undocumented workers during the operation.

Zion’s manager told Voice of San Diego he couldn’t comment on the operation, but told the Union-Tribune the day of the raid that officials detained mainly Asian and Hispanic workers.

“All I know is that they arrested 26 from here earlier today and now we are really, really busy,” the manager told the U-T. “They arrested our workers.”

Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge David Shaw said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of the Zion case.

The types of investigations and audits that can lead to operations like the one that took place at Zion Market have been surging recently.

In fiscal year 2018, Homeland Security Investigations opened 6,848 worksite investigations. That’s roughly a 305 percent increase from the year before, when 1,691 investigations were opened. I-9 audits – random checks the government does to ensure that employees have proper work authorization – have also increased. In 2018, the government conducted 5,981 audits, compared with 1,360 the year before. The agency made 779 criminal and 1,525 administrative worksite-related arrests nationwide in fiscal year 2018, compared with 139 and 172 the year before. Administrative arrests are for non-criminal immigration violations.

Despite the uptick in enforcement, though, criminal indictments and convictions have remained steady. In fiscal year 2018, there were 72 managers of businesses indicted over their hiring practices compared to 71 the year before, and 49 managers convicted in 2018 compared to 55 in fiscal year 2017.

The agency said in a release that those numbers “are also expected to rise due to many ongoing investigations, which can take months to years to fully develop.”

In San Diego, HSI agents opened 302 worksite investigations and initiated 282 audits in fiscal year 2018. They expect to initiate another 265 worksite audits in fiscal year 2019 in the San Diego region, according to a press release. The San Diego field office did not provide 2017 numbers.

The primary form of worksite enforcement happens through something called a Form I-9.

All employers in the United States must maintain Form I-9s for their employees. They contain basic information, like name, date of birth, contact information, but also information about an employee’s citizenship and their eligibility to work in the United States.

Every year, HSI conducts randomized audits of companies’ I-9 forms to check for compliance.

The audits can spur criminal investigations when it appears there may be a larger problem with an employer, as can tips to the agency about potential problem employers.

“Really the goal for us is to find the employers who are taking advantage of the system,” Shaw said.

Administrative audits often end in fines, said Kimberley Robidoux, an attorney who often works with companies on I-9 issues. Those fines can range from $110 to nearly $2,000 per employee. Sometimes errors are simply the result of a technical glitch or a paperwork error. Other times, an employee’s work authorization comes into question, which triggers an ICE “Notice of Suspect Documents,” which would require the employer to reach out to the employee in question so he or she can provide proof of work authorization in the country.

“Sometimes individuals just don’t come back to work if they don’t have authorization or sometimes people have the authorization, but it maybe just wasn’t updated in the database if a person was naturalized,” Robidoux said.

In fiscal year 2018, ICE Homeland Security Investigations initiated 5,981 I-9 audits nationwide, up from 1,360 the year before.

For things to get to the criminal level, Shaw said, the agency often looks for employers who are broadly and knowingly disregarding the law.

“Some of it is proving the knowledge of the employer,” Shaw said. “If you can show the employer had knowledge, that takes you into a different realm. The goal is to stop the exploitation.”

The Zion Market operation wasn’t particularly large. Federal agents detained 146 individuals at a meatpacking plant in Ohio in June 2018. In August that same year, immigrant agents arrested 159 people at a trailer manufacturing plant in Texas.

But Robidoux said it was likely one of the larger operations in recent San Diego-area history.

In 2008, a high-profile worksite operation at French Gourmet in Pacific Beach resulted in 18 employee arrests. The owner and pastry chef pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and felony, respectively, and had to pay nearly $400,000 to the government, according to the Union-Tribune.

In one of the biggest local cases, Golden State Fence Company’s founder and a vice president were sentenced in 2007 to probation and hit with large fines for knowingly hiring immigrants who were unauthorized to work in the United States. The company had to forfeit $4.7 million to the U.S. government, a total that represented “the amount of profit the government believed the company derived through its use of undocumented workers,” the Union-Tribune reported at the time.

The company had been contracted by the government to work on parts of the border fence in 1997.

During one of the worksite searches conducted by federal agents during that case in 2005, 16 employees were arrested, the U-T reported.

https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topi...n-enforcement/

Originally Posted by Jean

. . . In one of the biggest local cases, Golden State Fence Company’s founder and a vice president were sentenced in 2007 to probation and hit with large fines for knowingly hiring immigrants who were unauthorized to work in the United States. The company had to forfeit $4.7 million to the U.S. government, a total that represented “the amount of profit the government believed the company derived through its use of undocumented workers,” the Union-Tribune reported at the time.

The company had been contracted by the government to work on parts of the border fence in 1997.

During one of the worksite searches conducted by federal agents during that case in 2005, 16 employees were arrested, the U-T reported.

5/12/2014

$5 MILLION Fine For Fence Company That Hired Illegal Aliens To Build Border Fence