http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 480147.htm

Posted on Fri, Aug. 26, 2005

OBSERVER WATCHDOG

Demand for illegal workers targeted
Officials cite `ridiculous' lack of fines for employers in N.C.
JIM MORRILL
Staff Writer

More than half of the Carolinas' estimated 330,000 illegal immigrants hold jobs -- even though it's against the law for employers to knowingly hire them.

So how many employers have been fined?

None.

In the Carolinas, no employer has been fined in at least two years. And across the country, only three "notices of intent" to fine employers were filed by immigration officials in 2004 -- though an estimated 7 million undocumented workers take home regular paychecks.

"That's ridiculous. They've absolutely failed in their mission to fine businesses," says Hal Weatherman, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican.

Last week Myrick called for raising fines from $250 to $10,000 per illegal worker, and giving local law agencies a cut as an incentive to crack down.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement says it targets egregious violators as well as airports, chemical plants and other security risks.

Last week, for example, 40 undocumented immigrants who worked for contractors at the Camp Lejeune Marine base were arrested. Last month, 48 illegal immigrants employed by contractors at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro were detained. No employer sanctions have been announced.

"Let's see, do we go check out the nuclear power plant or do we go check out the fast-food restaurant down the street?" says ICE spokesman Tim Counts. "We don't use employer fines as a measure of success."

But critics say enforcement is failing.

"ICE today is doing less work-site enforcement than even the Clinton administration did, and that is quite a dubious distinction," Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., told a House immigration panel in June.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., told the panel "the lack of enforcement and the lack of sanctions and the lack of making these employers accountable is just ... blatant. It's just not there."

This fall, Congress is expected to debate proposals that include calls for tougher border enforcement. Like others, Myrick says the U.S. "can no longer attack illegal immigration on the supply side without attacking the demand side."

That means on the job.

Employers say they feel trapped

A 1986 federal law makes employers establish an employee's identity and work authorization. For immigrants, that usually means a visa or so-called green card, a proof of legal residence.Though investigators say forged and counterfeit documents are common, employers are not expected to act as immigration officers. And some immigration lawyers say too many questions about an applicant's nationality can get an employer slapped with a discrimination complaint.

"We are in very much of a Catch-22," says Allen Gray, a human resource officer with Carolinas Associated General Contractors, a group that represents more than 3,000 contractors. "Federal regulations say you have to accept certain types of ID. ... No one wants to hire an illegal alien."

Carolinas AGC President Stephen Gennett says, "The fallacy is the assumption that we know they're illegal. ... (An employer) can't tell when he's been given forged documents. As far as we're concerned, he's put his best effort forth to make sure the man or the woman is properly in this country."

Counterfeit documents examined at Charlotte's ICE office show forgeries vary in quality. Some bogus Social Security cards appear to have come off a color copier. Some green cards have photos that appear added after the fact. Other counterfeits, however, are hard to tell from the genuine article.

Counts, the ICE spokesman, says the difficulty proving an employer knowingly hired an illegal immigrant is one reason officials no longer emphasize fines. Still, he says, ICE continues to target work sites.

In June, for example, agents raided an Arkansas poultry plant and arrested 119 illegal immigrants they said were using the identities of U.S. citizens. And in March, Wal-Mart Stores agreed to pay $11 million after a probe into the hiring of illegal immigrants by its contractors.

Counts says there are ongoing investigations in South Carolina that could result in fines or criminal charges against employers.

But the number of agents investigating illegal workers has fallen. According to congressional testimony, immigration officials devoted 9 percent of their staff to work-site enforcement in 1999. In 2003, it was 4 percent.

`The worst of everything'

The drop has come at a cost.

"The fact that there is no attention being paid by ICE whatsoever to the entire employer sanctions regime ... is certainly sending the message that if someone can get past the consular officer for a visa or past one of the U.S. borders, then they're unlikely to be detected," Richard Stana, director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the Government Accountability Office, told Congress in June.

Many say illegal immigrants are woven into the fabric of the U.S. workforce, providing valuable labor and services. A report this year by a national investment bank said the U.S. "is simply hooked on cheap, illegal workers" who help the country compete with low-wage employees overseas.

Some critics say workplace regulations allow unscrupulous employers to intimidate immigrants by giving them an excuse to threaten workers who complain about conditions.

"It's sort of the worst of everything," says Jennifer Gordon, a Fordham University law professor.

James Andrews, president of the N.C. AFL-CIO, says he's more concerned about worker safety than employer sanctions.

"I've been focused on making the workplace safe for all workers, whether they're legal or illegal," he says, "because they're here."

To Get a Job

Federal law requires employers to fill out forms called I-9s for every person they hire. New hires -- immigrants or not -- must show proof of identity and work authorization. The latter could include a Social Security card or a U.S. birth certificate.On their Web site, immigration officials tell employers: "If (the documents) reasonably appear on their face to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting them, you must accept them. To do otherwise could be an unfair immigration-related employment practice. If a document does not reasonably appear on its face to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting it, you must not accept it."

The Economic Tension

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick says the U.S. "can no longer attack illegal immigration on the supply side without attacking the demand side." That means going after employers. But a report this year by a national investment bank said the U.S. "is simply hooked on cheap, illegal workers" who help the country compete with low-wage employees overseas.