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  1. #1
    Senior Member magyart's Avatar
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    Calif. company faces immigration charges

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 02818.html

    Dec. 14, 2006, 2:42PM
    Calif. company faces immigration charges
    By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press Writer
    © 2006 The Associated Press

    SAN DIEGO — A Southern California fence-building company and two executives pleaded guilty Thursday to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed to pay a combined penalty of $5 million. The executives could also go to prison.

    The penalty is one of the biggest fines ever imposed in an immigration case, and the case represents a rare instance in which prosecutors brought criminal charges over the hiring of illegal immigrants.

    Golden State Fence Co. will pay $4.7 million. Mel Kay, 64, the company's founder, chairman and president, will forfeit $200,000, and Michael McLaughlin, 42, a manager in the company's Oceanside office, will pay $100,000.

    The two men admitted hiring at least 10 illegal immigrants.

    "People slip through the cracks and that's what happens. Mistakes were made," Richard Hirsch, an attorney for Golden State and Kay.

    Hirsch said prosecutors plan to ask for six months behind bars for the two men at sentencing March 28. The maximum sentence is five years. Prison time is unusual in such cases.

    Among Golden State Fence's projects in recent years was construction of part of a 14-mile border fence in San Diego in the late 1990s.

    Last year, in one of the biggest cases of its kind, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to end a federal investigation into the use of illegal immigrants at stores in 21 states.

    Companies are rarely hit with criminal charges for hiring illegal immigrants.

    "You have show a kind of criminal conspiracy," said Steven Camarota, research director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, a group that advocates tighter immigration controls. "The mere hiring of illegals is not enough."

    The illegal hiring took place between 1999 and 2005.

    U.S. immigration officials said last year that 100 employees at Golden State Fence's Riverside office were unauthorized to work, including three whom the company had been ordered not to employ after a 1999 audit by the government. Golden State, which has 750 employees, saw sales soar from $60 million in 1998 to $150 million in 2004, according to a biography of Kay provided by the company.

    The plea bargain comes just days after federal authorities raided meat processing plants in six states as part of an investigation into the stealing and selling of identity documents so illegal immigrants could get jobs.

  2. #2
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    Among Golden State Fence's projects in recent years was construction of part of a 14-mile border fence in San Diego in the late 1990s.

    LOL this is just too funny but i have to say that if they want to hire illegals, make them build the rest of the fence all the way to the gulf of mexico and pay em cheap labor then drop them off in mexico so they can go home, LOL

  3. #3
    Senior Member loservillelabor's Avatar
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    Golden State, which has 750 employees, saw sales soar from $60 million in 1998 to $150 million in 2004,
    How many business owners of good character went under while this outfit thrived on illegal labor? This judgement falls way short of justice imho.
    Unemployment is not working. Deport illegal alien workers now! Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  4. #4
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    An employer that hired illegals has actually been brought to trial??? Well, that's progress. And in CA too???

    Maybe they got the bid in the first place because of their unscrupulous hiring practices. Bet there was more than 10 illegals too.

    Illegals helping to build a fence to keep illegals out!
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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    Senior Member reptile09's Avatar
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    This is not te first time Golden State Fence Co. has been busted for employing illegal alien workers. They have done it for years with impunity, it's about time the president and supervisor were fined for their actions. How about some serious jail time as well? Maybe that will put the fear of ther law into these criminal employers.

    From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

    In recent years, Golden State has received many warnings not to hire illegal workers, government officials have said. Inspections showed that undocumented workers continued to be hired, sources said.

    The company has been audited under a two-year program called Operation Safe Cities, which targets military contractors and other businesses deemed critical to national security. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, is involved in the audits.

    In December 2005, federal agents raided Golden State's Oceanside and Riverside offices, carrying out boxes of payroll records. The raid marked the second time in less than 15 months that the company was cited for hiring more than a dozen undocumented workers.

    Authorities said the company apparently rehired some workers after being told specifically not to hire them again. It was the third time since 1999 the company had been found employing undocumented workers.

    A Golden State official said in 2004 that the company was duped by workers with counterfeit documents.
    [b][i][size=117]"Leave like beaten rats. You old white people. It is your duty to die. Through love of having children, we are going to take over.â€

  6. #6
    Senior Member magyart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by reptile09
    This is not te first time Golden State Fence Co. has been busted for employing illegal alien workers. They have done it for years with impunity, it's about time the president and supervisor were fined for their actions. How about some serious jail time as well? Maybe that will put the fear of ther law into these criminal employers.

    From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

    In recent years, Golden State has received many warnings not to hire illegal workers, government officials have said. Inspections showed that undocumented workers continued to be hired, sources said.

    The company has been audited under a two-year program called Operation Safe Cities, which targets military contractors and other businesses deemed critical to national security. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Homeland Security Department, is involved in the audits.

    In December 2005, federal agents raided Golden State's Oceanside and Riverside offices, carrying out boxes of payroll records. The raid marked the second time in less than 15 months that the company was cited for hiring more than a dozen undocumented workers.

    Authorities said the company apparently rehired some workers after being told specifically not to hire them again. It was the third time since 1999 the company had been found employing undocumented workers.

    A Golden State official said in 2004 that the company was duped by workers with counterfeit documents.
    Who is the judge ? I'll write him a letter asking for serious jail time for this repeat criminal.

    Do you know any fence building competitors / I hope one of them sues him for unfair "business practices". Know a lawyer that might try a case like this ?

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