Published: 5:03 pm
Updated: 7:01 pm
Erik Avanier
wdef.com

CLEVELAND, Tennessee(WDEF) - Jackson furniture Industries in Cleveland has ended up on the radar of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement better known as ICE.

A federal work site enforcement audit has revealed the company may have some employees who are illegal aliens using false identification.

"In many cases, individuals who are in the country illegally will turn to criminal activity including document fraud, social security fraud, or or outright identity theft to obtain employment and it can take years for victims of identity theft to repair that damage," said ICE public affairs officer Bryan Cox.

Jackson Furniture industries issued a public statement that reads:

"During the audit, it was determined that documents provided by some of the the employees at the time of hire contained suspect information. These matters are currently under review and the matter is being handled internally."

The statement goes on to say that Jackson Furniture Industries had properly followed the lawful procedures of hiring and is not at fault.

Todd Deluca, the companies director of human resources said Jackson Furniture Industries is cooperating with federal investigators to resolve the matter.

Deluca said during their internal investigation, they have asked an undisclosed number of workers to provide more documentation to prove their identity. The human resource director also admitted that an undisclosed number of employees have quit their job once the investigation started.

This is the first time Jackson Furniture Industries has been audited by the feds.

No one is saying how the investigation got started but WDEF was told it only takes a tip to authorities or information revealed in a separate incident to spark this type of investigation.

http://www.wdef.com/news/story/Cleve...W5nCHb2ug.cspx