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U.S. to propose crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants


Eunice Moscoso
Cox News Service
Dec. 1, 2005 02:51 PM

WASHINGTON - The government will propose regulations that would allow stronger fines or even jail terms to be imposed when companies knowingly hire illegal immigrants, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

Chertoff offered no specifics on the regulations. But he said the administration will work to help businesses verify the legal status of their workers, often a difficult task because of the proliferation of fake documents and confusion over what employers can legally ask potential employees.

"We've got to change the dynamic which brings people into this country to work on an illegal basis," Chertoff said at a news conference. "One key to that is to change the dynamic that gets employers to hire those illegal aliens, and that means more vigorous interior enforcement."

Critics say the lack of aggressive workplace enforcement is a major flaw in the government's efforts to combat illegal immigration.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the government has focused on finding illegal immigrants in critical sectors such as military bases, airports, and nuclear and chemical plants, rather than at restaurants, hotels, and construction companies.

Chertoff's news conference was part of a week-long White House effort to highlight border security and promote a temporary worker program that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to apply for short-term work visas.

Chertoff compared the U.S.-Mexico border to a dam that is overflowing. The solution, he said, is to divert some of the water.

A temporary worker program would relieve congestion at the border by letting workers come to the United States legally for up to six years to fill jobs that Americans don't want, Chertoff said. The foreign workers would have to leave the United States after their visas expire.

"As long as we don't have a regulated, temporary program to deal with that, we are putting the maximum amount of pressure on our enforcers, and we're really making the job that they have very difficult," he said.

The temporary worker program, however, is a tough sell in Congress, where some conservative Republicans are adamantly opposed to giving legal permits to those who have broken the law to enter the United States.

"By rewarding lawbreaking, the president only encourages more of the same," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who heads a 91-member House caucus pushing for stronger immigration controls.

Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, want the plan to go further, offering a path to permanent residency and citizenship for the workers.

Chertoff said that the administration inherited the problem of illegal immigration, which has been building for 20 years. Now, he said, it is taking a comprehensive approach that includes more Border Patrol agents, more use of technology, faster deportation of illegal immigrants and stronger enforcement at the workplace.

"We are digging ourselves out of a hole," he said.

Earlier this week, President Bush visited border states to highlight the administration's efforts to combat illegal immigration.

Bush departed from previous rhetoric by putting a stronger emphasis on enforcement, vowing to "take control of this border" and to process and deport illegal immigrants more rapidly.