Thread: Newsday: Sizing up impact of first IRS bust of LI employer

Sizing up impact of first IRS bust of LI employer

BY SUSANA ENRIQUEZ.susana.enriquez@newsday.com

July 7, 2007

Groups on both sides of the immigration debate are anxiously waiting to see whether an IRS bust of a St. James subcontractor who was not paying taxes on the undocumented immigrants working for him is the beginning of a trend on Long Island.

Jay Kuhn, owner of Kuhn Brothers Construction, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to tax evasion for not paying taxes on 150 undocumented workers.

He will face up to 27 months in jail.

While it is unclear what happened to the workers, Nadia Marin-Molina, executive director of the Workplace Project in Hempstead, said an employer getting busted is the least of the employees' concerns.

"I think workers are most afraid of immigration raids," Marin-Molina said.

"It's only going to increase the people out on the street looking for work. There's a lot of competition looking for jobs."

According to a study recently released by the Horace Hagedorn Foundation, 5.9 percent of Hispanics on Long Island work in the construction industry, while 6.4 percent of the general population works in the industry. The study did not take legal status into consideration.

At a construction site on Brookwood Lane in Patchogue Friday afternoon, at which "Kuhn" was listed on a sign posted at the entrance to the site, workers were constructing the frame of a large building.

Several employees declined to comment as they left the site.

While the type of action brought on Kuhn is rare on Long Island, some say it is long overdue.

"This kind of enforcement effort is a move toward even-handedness - holding illegal immigrants and their employers to the same standard as everyone else," said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., that supports tighter controls on immigration.

Now that federal legislation on immigration reform failed, Krikorian said he thinks the federal government will stop enforcing immigration law altogether, including tax evasion law as it applies to the employers of undocumented immigrants.

Because of that, he said, state governments will begin to pass their own immigration legislation and enforce it.

"This kind of enforcement is part of what the federal government should be doing but often doesn't," he said.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzsi ... ness-print

[quote]"It's only going to increase the people out on the street looking for work. There's a lot of competition looking for jobs."[/quote]

Oh, Really?!

It's about time the employers do a little worrying.

If they can be stripped of their ill gotten gains, maybe someday it will be enough to reopen one of the hospitals in time to save and honest resident.

Originally Posted by StokeyBob

It's about time the employers do a little worrying.

If they can be stripped of their ill gotten gains, maybe someday it will be enough to reopen one of the hospitals in time to save and honest resident.

Nope they will not... Until the people that we hire to enforce immigration laws go after the little guys as well as the big guys... I hope this is a trend.. Nail them to the wall.. Any bust on anything is welcomed news...

Don't forget we did not win anything at all the other day... It was NOT a victory.. We just stopped people that thought they would like to try something bigger... We still have status quo... Illegals are still not going home after the Visa has expired and still pouring over the border.... So what did we win??? Maybe it is just me but I want action now.....

Did you guys notice the debate is starting to get redefined?? They are starting to say/write the reason the bill was killed is because the people did not trust the Government.. Not about the 12 to 25 million illegals that are in America... It's only 1/2 true.. We don't trust the government to Deport them... We have got to win the war of the Definitions and control the debate...

Any illegals who were busted during a raid should be deported without an appeal. If the illegal thought that they had a legimate reason for being here they should have all ready done the appeal and not waited until they are caught. It is time that judges and lawyers realize that.

Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

Sizing up impact of first IRS bust of LI employer

BY SUSANA ENRIQUEZ.susana.enriquez@newsday.com

July 7, 2007

Groups on both sides of the immigration debate are anxiously waiting to see whether an IRS bust of a St. James subcontractor who was not paying taxes on the undocumented immigrants working for him is the beginning of a trend on Long Island.

Jay Kuhn, owner of Kuhn Brothers Construction, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to tax evasion for not paying taxes on 150 undocumented workers.

He will face up to 27 months in jail.

While it is unclear what happened to the workers, Nadia Marin-Molina, executive director of the Workplace Project in Hempstead, said an employer getting busted is the least of the employees' concerns.


That's typical of the illegal population's mindset in general. Their concern for everything goes only as far as it concerns them and they've got no qualms whatsoever about leaving behind the wreckage for others to deal with. A business goes down for employing them.....no problem, they'll just find another. The local, county, or state government steps in levvying fines and demanding rehab of neighborhoods they've trashed.......no biggie, they just move on to trash another one. A hospital closes it's doors after being bankrupted by their freebie healthcare....oh well, there's always another hospital to bankrupt.


"I think workers are most afraid of immigration raids," Marin-Molina said.

Well of course they are. These directly affect them. Raids mean consequences for them.


"It's only going to increase the people out on the street looking for work. There's a lot of competition looking for jobs."

This is actually amusing to me. There are so many illegals who have overtaken the job market that they are now creating a situation of unemployment for their own kind. Yep......they thought it was funny putting Americans out of work. I'm betting they don't find it so funny now that they're finding themselves in the same position.

According to a study recently released by the Horace Hagedorn Foundation, 5.9 percent of Hispanics on Long Island work in the construction industry, while 6.4 percent of the general population works in the industry. The study did not take legal status into consideration.


"This kind of enforcement effort is a move toward even-handedness - holding illegal immigrants and their employers to the same standard as everyone else," said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., that supports tighter controls on immigration.


And it's about damned time that illegals and all, not just employers, who enable them are held to the same standard as everyone else. For way tooooo long have these people operated under the notion that they are exempt from the laws and standards of our society and that they are entitled and untouchable. It's high time somebody knocked them off their high horses once and for all.


Now that federal legislation on immigration reform failed, Krikorian said he thinks the federal government will stop enforcing immigration law altogether, including tax evasion law as it applies to the employers of undocumented immigrants.

And that move by the Federal Government will be nothing more than blatant retaliation against U.S. citizens for refusing to have another amnesty shoved down our throats and demanding that our government work for us.


Because of that, he said, state governments will begin to pass their own immigration legislation and enforce it.

That's right. And, state and local politicians need to understand that no longer will their constituents accept "it's a Federal responsibility" as an excuse for inaction



"This kind of enforcement is part of what the federal government should be doing but often doesn't," he said.

Hence the demands for investigation and necessary criminal prosecutions.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzsi ... ness-print

Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

Groups on both sides of the immigration debate are anxiously waiting to see whether an IRS bust of a St. James subcontractor who was not paying taxes on the undocumented immigrants working for him is the beginning of a trend on Long Island.

Was he busted for hiring illegal aliens? No, he was busted for not paying taxes on his illegal alien employees.

The moral of the story is, the federal government will overlook employing illegal aliens,
but don't you dare evade paying taxes for the wages you illegally pay them!

Al Capone should be calling for a mistrial on his tax evasion conviction.