Illegal workers' employers still being pursued

ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:00 a.m. May 1, 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is pursuing employers who knowingly hire and exploit illegal immigrants, a policy not significantly different from the Bush administration's approach.

The guidelines, sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents yesterday, call for imposing fines and pressing criminal charges against employers who break the law.

The priority is to go after employers, but the policy says agents will continue to arrest illegal workers as long as local U.S. attorneys commit to prosecuting cases against their employers.

The Obama administration stresses that humanitarian guidelines will be followed in more cases than under President George W. Bush.

As a candidate, Barack Obama promised an immigration policy that would shift emphasis from workplace raids and place greater focus on employers who hire illegal immigrants and overall immigration reform. Some immigration advocates were hopeful that Obama would sign an executive order that would freeze immigration raids, but that hasn't happened.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said the agency will focus on “renewing a priority on employers who are making money off of these illegal immigrants and giving them jobs that should be going to
American workers, as opposed to just counting numbers.â€