Thread: White House to crack down on companies that hire illegals

May 10, 2009
White House to crack down on companies that hire illegals
By JERRY ERICKSON Media General News Service

The Tampa Tribune

U.S. employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers will now face harsher scrutiny and penalties. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the government agency that oversees immigration in the U.S., has just announced its intentions to up the pressure on U.S. businesses hiring unauthorized workers.

Janet Napolitano, the current Secretary of DHS and the former governor of Arizona, made it clear in an announcement on April 30 that DHS will focus on the employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking the country's laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers. In essence, the policy will focus the attention of DHS on employers, rather than primarily on the unauthorized worker. In recent weeks, Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids in an attempt to focus more on U.S. employers and less on unauthorized workers.

The DHS policy is aimed at striking at a serious cause of illegal immigration - employers who illegally hire unauthorized workers. The strategy behind the policy is to make it perfectly clear to employers that they can no longer hire someone who isn't authorized for employment. The expectation is that there will be less motivation for individuals to illegally enter the U.S.

While the government will continue to arrest unauthorized workers found in the course of their investigations, the focus of these investigations will also now be on the employers who allow the employment to occur.

In my column of April 8, I noted the recent increase in worksite raids. The policy by the Obama administration refocuses the scope and direction of immigration raids to specifically target the employer. Under the Bush administration, immigration raids led to the arrest and deportation of thousands of unauthorized workers, but only the prosecution of a few employers. For example, in 2008 there were over 6,000 arrests as a result of worksite raids, yet only 135 criminal charges were filed against employers. The new policy of DHS now directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct careful criminal investigations of the employers who are employing the unauthorized workers.

The policy being implemented by DHS should come as no surprise given that just hours after being sworn in, Napolitano stated "You have to deal with illegal immigration from the demand side as well as the supply side." DHS is now looking to minimize the supply by vigorously prosecuting employers who are creating the demand for unauthorized workers.

Napolitano provided specifics on the DHS strategy during an interview with The Associated Press last month. During the interview Napolitano explained that cases against employers will be built by auditing the documents that employees fill out when they join a company, having undocumented workers go undercover and from talking to people who regularly interact with the employers. "What I want to do is deter more employers from intentionally and knowingly hiring illegal workers," Napolitano said.

Even in situations where a criminal case cannot be established against an employer, DHS has instructed agents to seek civil penalties, including fines and disbarment from federal contracts. The guidelines require that a 14-day notice be issued from the ICE field agents to ICE headquarters, prior to a raid, with information regarding the investigation. The guidelines also require that field agents either have an arrest, indictment, search warrant or at least a commitment from a U.S. Attorney's Office to prosecute an employer before arresting employees for civil violations at a work site.

The shift away from the previous policy should be seen as the Obama administration's focus on addressing the underlying cause of illegal employment in our country - employers that allow it to happen. Because the employer is seen as assisting in the ebb and flow of illegal immigration, the first priority listed in the new DHS guidelines is to file criminal charges against employers who knowingly and intentionally hire undocumented workers. This should get the attention of every employer who knowingly makes the decision to hire those without work authorization. As the focus of the government shifts from employee to employer, it is imperative that employers also shift their focus - from cheap unauthorized labor to lawful labor.

www2.hernandotoday.com

Then lets start seeing some action, Janet. You already know who the companies are, start raiding and instead of arresting 6,000 illegal workers and 135 employers, lets see 8,000,000 illegal workers and 8,000 employers arrested.

Originally Posted by Judy

Then lets start seeing some action, Janet. You already know who the companies are, start raiding and instead of arresting 6,000 illegal workers and 135 employers, lets see 8,000,000 illegal workers and 8,000 employers arrested.

And lets see those employers going to prison. Oh....and no bail. They have too much money and are a flight risk. To prison with them all!!!!

Originally Posted by Judy

Then lets start seeing some action, Janet. You already know who the companies are, start raiding and instead of arresting 6,000 illegal workers and 135 employers, lets see 8,000,000 illegal workers and 8,000 employers arrested.

That would be a great start...

Let's have a reality check here. I believe the new policy is more about minimizing the deportation of illegal aliens than it is about going after the employers. We all know the Obama administration wants to put illegal aliens on a path to legalization (amnesty). Wouldn't it be counter-productive to deport the very same folks that your looking to legalize?

Napolitano seems to have a hidden agenda behind almost everything she does. That hidden agenda almost always favors illegal aliens. The following items may give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

1. Reduce interior inforcement manpower and funding by relocating more resources to the southern border.

2. Avoid full-scale raids on businesses that could result in large quanities of illegals being apprehended. Let's only go after the employer and avoid deporting his illegal labor whenever possible. In other words, let's only attack the demand side of the issue and ignore the supply side if at all possible. Obama doesn't want to deport the folks he hopes to eventually legalize and make part of the Democrat voting base.

3. Let's forget quality fencing (double-layered fencing with high speed roads, sensors, stadium lighting, and monitors) and concentrate on virtual security (cameras, towers, and sensors). Of course we all know that the so-called virtual fencing can be turned off with the flick of a switch. Once built, physical fencing can't be turned off and cannot be gotten rid of without people noticing.

4. The Obama administration has now given ICE agents the authority to release illegal aliens who claim they have minor children.

These are just a few items off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more.

This is a smoke screen. If they really wanted to do something about it they would have forced companies to use e verifi in the Gov jobs the stimulas pacage was supposed to create. This is all a lie. Janet is a wide open borders person and a disgrace to our country.

This part about giving ICE agents the OK to release illegals who claim they have minor children is huge. New research just released shows that most illegals living in this country are here with family members and anchor children. This would mean most of them would be released because they have "American citizen" children.

Originally Posted by hattiecat

This part about giving ICE agents the OK to release illegals who claim they have minor children is huge. New research just released shows that most illegals living in this country are here with family members and anchor children. This would mean most of them would be released because they have "American citizen" children.

This is a stupid plan!
Letting illegals with kids go. Have you ever SEEN an illegal with no kids or NOT pregnant???? NO!!!!

While the government will continue to arrest unauthorized workers found in the course of their investigations, the focus of these investigations will also now be on the employers who allow the employment to occur.

Then they give the illegals temp work visa's??????
What good is that than just slowly giving them ALL Amnesty?

Actions speak louder than words!!!!!!HEAVY FINES and FELONY JAIL time for the ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS! Remember Robert Camp another ILLEGAL EMPLOYER from Houston, "his" ILLEGAL EMPLOYEE murdered a Houston Police Officer by empting a loaded handgun into the Police Officer's back because he was afraid to be DEPORTED AGAIN!

There's that stinking key word "knowingly" again, every one they catch will deny that they "knew" they were hiring illegals just like the identity theft case knowing they were using someone elses SSN.