Thread: Immigration business auditors alert deputies to stolen, bogu

Immigration business auditors alert deputies to stolen, bogus documents
Published Saturday, July 19, 2008


By MICHAEL WELLES SHAPIRO mshapiro@islandpacket.com 843-706-8142

Auditors checking Beaufort County businesses to ensure they’re complying with a new immigration law are notifying the sheriff’s office when they find documents that appear to be counterfeit or stolen, according to officials.

County administrator Gary Kubic said he decided about five weeks ago to have private auditors who are working for the county alert the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office when they come across suspicious immigration documents or forms.

The auditors from Hilton Head Island-based Advance Point Global, who include a former U.S Secret Service agent and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, have been randomly auditing businesses since April.

Under the county ordinance, auditors are checking whether federal immigration documents called I-9s, which typically include a worker’s name and Social Security number, are on file for each employee and filled out properly.

The ordinance went into effect Jan. 1, 2008, and affects business in unincorporated parts of the county. It penalizes employers who knowingly hire workers who are in the country illegally, which would also be a violation of federal law. The maximum penalty under the county ordinance is revocation of an employer’s county business license.

The ordinance doesn’t penalize employers who have unwittingly accepted fake or stolen IDs from employees.

So far auditors have checked more than 300 businesses and none has lost its license. In some cases, however, business have had to take steps to make their records comply with the ordinance. The auditors wouldn’t say how many businesses have had to take corrective steps.

“Our guys are experienced enough to be able to recognize when Social Security numbers and passports and alien identification numbers (a number given to immigrants working legally in the country) look suspicious,â€

But some people question whether auditors should be passing along information to the sheriff’s office.

What a surprise! I bet those who question this pratice are either illegal invaders themselves, or who have a vested interest in keeping the illegals around...ah, like an immigration attorney!