The Associated Press
June 4, 2009
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US is to crackdown on employers that hire illegal immigrants, shifting the focus away from controversial raids that target migrants directly, a top administration official said on Wednesday.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said she had asked for prosecutions to be stepped up against employers who break immigration rules, pivoting away from contentious raids, which critics say unfairly target Hispanics.
"A primary driver of illegal immigration is the labor market and you have to go after the pull that that market has created. That means you have to go after the employers who are hire illegal labor," she said in an address at the Aspen Institute, a think tank.
"There has been a lot of controversy about so-called work-site raids, whether those were effective, whether they separated families, whether they were placing fear into people," said the former Arizona governor.
Napolitano's department oversees the running of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit, which has been responsible for the raids against illegal migrants -- drawing fire from lawmakers and rights groups.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other rights advocacy groups have strongly condemned the raids, which they say is tantamount to racial profiling of Latinos and of Spanish speakers.
The debate is enmeshed in a wider -- and equally divisive -- debate about immigration which has proven a minefield for both political parties, as they try to reconcile demands from the growing rank of Hispanic voters and anti-migration voices, particularly in states that border Mexico.
Obama has vowed to push through comprehensive immigration reform this year, following up on pledges from the presidential campaign trail. Then he vowed to make it possible for the millions of illegal migrants in the United States to stay here lawfully.
But with the economy still in the doldrums and many Americans loosing their jobs, the issue is likely to prove explosive.
Napolitano said the department needs to enforce current immigration rules beyond the border, but indicated the administration of President Barack Obama would take a new tack.
"We really were not going after employers, we were really focused on the time and effort that it takes to develop a case to show that a particular employer was intentionally hiring illegal labor," the former US attorney said.
Her office has now instructed local officials to take the time to build cases against businesses "like the employer who has 25 employees and 22 are here illegally, maybe there is something going on there," she said.
Napolitano said she had enlisted the help of US Attorney General and his rank of government prosecutors: "I have talked a lot with Eric Holder about opening the door more to the attorneys' offices for those cases.
"As we are turning this big boat, that is one of the emphases that we do have."
Napolitano said the government hoped to make it easier for employers to know if potential employees were in the United States illegally, through an online verification system.
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