Thread: ICE: Few firms fined for hiring illegal workers

ICE: Few firms fined for hiring illegal workers

September 1, 2010 12:00 am

Immigration inspectors poring over the hiring paperwork of a California company last summer found that 262 employees - a whopping 93 percent of the total work force - had "suspect" documents on file.

At an Illinois service company, auditors found dubious documents for nearly eight in 10 of the business's 200-plus employees.

Inspectors examining records at a Texas manufacturing firm found suspicious paperwork for more than half of the 107 employees on the payroll.

But the companies didn't pay a penny in fines. None of the employers was led away in handcuffs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials didn't even issue them a formal warning, the agency's internal records show.

Instead, they were instructed to purge their payrolls of illegal immigrants. Armed with assurances that the employees with suspect documents were fired - or, in the Texas case, "self-terminated" - the ICE auditors closed the cases.

The cases are just a few examples included in ICE's internal records on its audit initiative, an enforcement program launched last July by Obama administration officials.

In the past, ICE had faced criticism for raiding job sites and rounding up large numbers of illegal immigrants for deportation, but not necessarily building cases against employers.

With the audit initiative, ICE aims to scrutinize the hiring records of more businesses and impose what top officials describe as "tough" and "smart" employer sanctions.

But ICE audit records obtained recently through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the agency has, in many instances, failed to punish companies found to have significant numbers or high percentages of workers with questionable documents.

In response to the public records request, ICE provided limited details on about 430 audit cases listed as "closed" by the agency through February.

The records show inspectors identified more than 110 companies with suspect documents.

In total, the agency ordered 14 companies to pay fines totaling nearly $150,000, but it noted no employer arrests in connection with any of the cases.

ICE also has refused to disclose the names or locations of companies found through the auditing process to have hired illegal immigrants, saying the businesses have a right to "personal privacy." Illegal immigrants' advocates estimated the audits, often referred to as "silent raids," have cost thousands of workers their jobs. Angela Kelley, with the Center for American Progress, said the strategy appears to be more thoughtful than the work-site enforcement raids of the prior administration, but the impact is "equally as devastating."

"You have this drip, drip, drip of I-9 enforcement audits all over the country, and it has the same effect - people don't come to work the next day," she said.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 6884f.html

In response to the public records request, ICE provided limited details on about 430 audit cases listed as "closed" by the agency through February.

"Limited details"= Govt speak for "Trust me"?

ICE should include a requirement that first caught with illegal workforces advertise job openings with the info that they'l only hire people who are legally entitled to be in the country in the first place.

When everyone admits that the employers are the magnet, shame on the Feds for not doing their job that would put an end to the magnet.

Everyone always says if we saw more perp walks by CEOs this would all change.

Does this policy go all the way to the top?

Originally Posted by mapwife

. . . Does this policy go all the way to the top?

It comes down from the top.
I.C.E. doesn't make these decisions, they come from congress and the White House.

You don't see Obama using the Department of Justice over this do you? NO, of course not. They are too busy going outside the federal gov to instead attack and sue Arizona and Arpaio.

Traitors galore.

everyone should be fired and tried as traitors

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5626--0-0.html

When large employers and corporations are busted for hiring illegal workers, they often agonize: "But how was I to know they were illegal workers? Their documents look real!".

One would think that the obvious answer is that employers should be more careful when hiring employees. But the Obama Administration is just as likely to sue employers for alleged civil rights violations if these employers ask for too many documents from potential workers! Take this article for example:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 63196.html

It's the ultimate Catch 22. ICE, DHS, DOJ, and the Obama Administration wind-up simply letting these unscrupulous employers go. And that's the way they want it. The illegal workers are fired but not deported, because they represent future voters, who will vote for the political party that promises them the most goodies.

Probably the best answer for now is to mandate that all US employers use E-Verify. Maybe Congress can work on this if Republicans regain control of Congress after the Nov Midterms.