Thread: Owner didn't know workers were illegal

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles ... 110275.txt

FARGO (AP) - The owner of a restaurant closed after an investigation by state and federal agencies says he had no knowledge of any illegal workers.

Ten people at the Acapulco restaurant were arrested Wednesday by the Border Patrol on suspicion of being illegal aliens, said Tim Counts, a spokesman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. Officials said five of the 10 are restaurant workers and the others either were inside the business or showed up shortly after agents arrived. They said three tried to run from Border Patrol agents.

The restaurant's owner, Martin Gutierrez, of Fargo, released a statement late Thursday after flying home from Mexico, where he had been on a visit.

"The owner would like to state that to the best of his knowledge, his workers were documented with every legal right to be in this country," the statement said.
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Gutierrez said four of the 10 arrested had been released.

The restaurant was closed after the arrests.

"The manager decided to close it because he didn't have any cooks," said Mark Armstrong, a spokesman for Workforce Safety and Insurance, the state workers' compensation program that is investigating the restaurant for failure to pay premiums.

It appears Acapulco never made payments on behalf of workers, Armstrong said.

"Our agency is concerned that employers have coverage," he said.

Border Patrol, Workforce Safety, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they joined in the sting after getting a tip that illegal immigrants were working at the restaurant.

Counts said new employees must provide documentation proving their identity and work status. Employers who fail to verify or disregard a worker's status can face fines or criminal charges, he said.

"When 10 people are arrested in one area, we generally look deeper," he said.

Hooray for the tipster!

I am 100% sure that the owner didn't know these employees were illegal. Yeah, right!

Whether he did or he didn't know matters little. The owner was supposed to know before he put the people to work. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and that law has been on the books since the 80's.

Sorry, Acapulco owner, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Seems like a lot of the bills that are being proposed about hiring illegals have the word "knowingly" in them. I think this will be the loophole used if these bills pass and employers get caught.

Then perhaps they should enforce the old laws that don't say "knowingly."

Think about this: do you think that if you sold a bottle or wine or a 12 pack of beer to a 17 year old with fake ID that the court is going to care that the buyer presented fake ID? Well, they don't. They train people who are in that business to recognize fake ID's. Perhaps they could train people who hire other people to recognize fake ID's.

I "know" and you "know" but for some reason, it is hard for the gov't to "know." You, "know?"

I sure do know, backseatdriver. And I have to admit that my life was much easier when I didn't know.