Thread: Those hiring illegals must be prosecuted

Those hiring illegals must be prosecuted
Illegal immigrant workers aren't the only ones breaking laws.
Posted: Thursday, Apr. 23, 2009

Authorities say House of Raeford hired illegal immigrants at an S.C. plant. OBSERVER FILE PHOTO
With the indictment last week of a top manager at a Greenville, S.C., plant, maybe the chickens have finally come home to roost at the feet of those who run House of Raeford Farms. In both Carolinas, the N.C.-based chicken processor has flouted immigration and child labor laws, endangered workers and, workers say, fostered an environment where those hurt on the job were too afraid to report injuries.

Yet so far, most of the people held accountable for these problems have been the workers themselves. Until last week the highest ranking company official charged in this investigation was the Greenville plant's human resource manager. About a dozen supervisors have been charged as well.

But most of the punishment has been meted out to workers. More than 300 were arrested in a raid last October. Most have been deported. The lower level supervisors have been convicted and sentenced.

Now federal authorities have finally snared one of the top dogs, charging him with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Such high-level arrests are important if officials really want to stop the kind of illegal and risky activities this newspaper documented at N.C. and S.C. House of Raeford plants. Illegal immigrants and underage workers don't hire themselves to work in these businesses. Nor do they assign themselves to do dangerous work without adequate and effective safety precautions.

Those who run these plants do that. When violations occur, they should be held accountable.

So far, our stories have prompted congressional hearings on workplace safety, beefed up staffing at the N.C. Department of Labor, bills before N.C. lawmakers to prevent the hiring of underage workers and a federal probe of whether regulators are vigilant enough at punishing workplace safety violators.

Most of the legal action – aside from fines – has taken place in South Carolina. And sadly, the N.C. labor department – charged with enforcing worker safety – simply isn't doing much of that. State Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry doesn't seem to put much stock in providing protection at plants in this state. She views her agency as a partner with agribusinesses and she's seen no evidence that imposing significant fines for violations matters.

Those fines might not have much impact because they're often slashed later. N.C. regulators have often missed chances to take stiff action against repeat violators of safety rules.

North Carolina would benefit from a labor commissioner who took workplace safety seriously. But the one we have was just re-elected so we have to make do.

Still, things can be done. Lawmakers can enact stiffer penalties. Regulators can be more vigilant, identifying patterns of violations and acting swiftly against such violators.

And those at the top who own and run these derelict companies can be punished. If the facts show they are involved, prison time should await them too.

www.charlotteobserver.com

Pat.Hurley@ncleg.net, Marcb@ncleg.net, Joe.Hackney@ncleg.net, Austin.Allran@ncleg.net, Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net, Harold.Brubaker@ncleg.net, Wil.Neumann@ncleg.net

Dear Legislators of North Carolina:

I am request that we have E-Verify in our state once again used by everyone. Every immigrant in North Carolina should be verified. No one in the world should run around the state as an undocumented person. And when a person goes into the workplace, state law should be strong on requiring everyone to be E-Verified.

In the below Charlotte Observer article is a fine example of the abuse going on to both legal and illegals immigrants by not using E-Verify throughout our entire state.

And lastly there is the concern of North Carolina Citizens who need to work these jobs.

Please provide that everyone is E-Verified even the lawn individual. And checking someone's age would be involved in the E-Verifying process. So underage workers would be cured with E-Verify unless someone lies. So I recommend using IMAGE, also with E-Verify.

I think I would put the Employment Security Commission in charge of E-Verifying and checking everyone out. Currently there are no jobs in my county and the employees in my local unemployment office have extra time on their hands. With this extra time couldn't everyone in these office do E-Verifying?

I know many employers using E-Verify already.