Friday, December 7, 2007
Companies hiring illegal immigrants may be skirting other laws, too

The Business Journal of Phoenix - by Mike Sunnucks Phoenix Business Journal
Law enforcement officials and immigration attorneys say companies that hire illegal immigrants also may be skirting unemployment and workers' compensation insurance and tax payments, paying substandard wages, and sometimes committing document fraud related to the hirings.

"Other possible charges could be money laundering, tax evasion and overtime violations," said Sandra Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for Arizona in Phoenix.

Raynor said employers also could face a number of immigration charges, such as harboring illegal immigrants and encouraging them to come to the U.S.

Vincent Picard, spokesman for the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, said in some cases businesses hiring illegal immigrants have coordinated those moves with staffing companies or fraudulent identification rings, which provide migrant workers with fake IDs and Social Security numbers.

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