Thread: Nearly 30 Suspected Illegal Arrested At Caramel Apple Co

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.a ... yid=105811

(KSDK) - Nearly 30 people are in custody after a crackdown on illegal workers at a caramel apple company. It happened Friday morning at Happy Apples in Franklin County.

Workers were surprised this morning when immigration officials showed up with a search warrant.

"(Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents) came and visited us today and we cooperated fully with what they were looking for," said Happy Apples spokesperson Ed Reidy.

They were looking for illegal workers. They arrested 27 people they believe lacked proper paperwork.

"I think they also probably seized some documents from the business and we were also interested in any drug sales or narcotics that may be involved," said Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke.

This was not the first raid here.

In March, authorities arrested 15 people, one for drug charges, others for their illegal status. All had been living in a home owned by Happy Apples.

The company says it's been hard. They hire workers for just ten weeks a year. And while they're careful in their procedures, it's often difficult to tell real documents from fake.

"We follow all the requirements of the law as far as paperwork for all the employees when we hire them. If some of those documents happen to be counterfeit or fraudulent, it's not our job to be document experts," said Reidy.

According to Toelke, this is a growing problem in Franklin County, and as the number of illegal workers increases, law enforcement, and businesses alike, are struggling to find ways to cope.

"Obviously it's a nationwide concern. Everyone in the United States is arguing over what should be done about this problem," said Toelke.

The workers are now in federal custody and charges are pending. They will have the option to challenge the allegations in court or be deported.

This was not the first raid here.

In March, authorities arrested 15 people, one for drug charges, others for their illegal status. All had been living in a home owned by Happy Apples.

"We follow all the requirements of the law as far as paperwork for all the employees when we hire them. If some of those documents happen to be counterfeit or fraudulent, it's not our job to be document experts," said Reidy.

I'll bet if they get slammed with some substantial fines they would be better document experts.

In many cases using the I can't tell if the documents are fake excuse is just a lame excuse. I have seen fake IDs on numerous occassions and many of them are so obvious that you could have one brain cell more than an ape and be able to see it. There are some that are hard to tell and I don't deny that but they are very expensive to purchase. If stores can teach cashiers to spot counterfeit money than why can't employers have a chart showing what to look for when checking SSN cards. These charts actually do exist. They should get them and use them and if they don't than they should be charged for hiring illegals.
As for repeat offenders this is no surprise. When they were building the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, in Miami, ICE made numerous raids there. They would pick up 15 to 20 and return a month later and pick up around 20 more. Once they got lucky on one project and got close to 40 illegals. The company owners are not getting penalized enough for their hiring practices. Fine them and give them jail time. Once in jail they can learn about the other illegals that are in prison.

What a bunch of horse hockey!!! When a logical person is hireing people that don't speak or write English they know they are hiring illegals - they need o be fined and closed down.

This is the second time in the same year this company has been caught hiring illegals?
The excuse businesses are using is lame.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to have a birth certificate in order to get a SSN? If this is the case, then why can't the SS office cross reference the SSN's given by employers to see if they may match a birth certificate?
Or do they do this already? It doesn't seem as if they do, but I'm not sure on the procedures the SS office takes to ensure the SSN they are given is authentic and matches a certain person. To me this doesn't seem to be that difficult.
If the system currently in place only states that the SSN is a valid one when an employer makes an inquiry, then this should be rectified. I don't want the SS office to give out personal info, but they should be able to have a way to check to see if the given SSN's name cross reference that of birth certificate.

Obviously if Jose Perez uses a SSN which was assigned to Dan Smith's birth certificate, its pretty obvious that person is illegal as hell.

Originally Posted by JohnB2012

This was not the first raid here.

In March, authorities arrested 15 people, one for drug charges, others for their illegal status. All had been living in a home owned by Happy Apples.

"We follow all the requirements of the law as far as paperwork for all the employees when we hire them. If some of those documents happen to be counterfeit or fraudulent, it's not our job to be document experts," said Reidy.

I'll bet if they get slammed with some substantial fines they would be better document experts.

Clearly, this firm needs to use a subcontractor to secure hired help. This will provide him a buffer from the illegals. Of course he must ask the contractor to sign a document that no illegal laborers will be used. He can also start to classify them as independent contractors and free himself from collecting taxes. The contractor can merely keep them.

But seriously, I hope the business owner gets jail time.