By Michael Jones, HT Staff Writer
Gaylord Herald Times
August 16, 2011
CHESTER TWP. —Two members of a survey crew with Precision Geophysical Inc., an Ohio-based seismic recording services company, are facing deportation to Mexico after deputies from the Otsego County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) determined Sunday the pair were in the country illegally.
On Tuesday, OCSD Deputy Tim Hogan said his department was dispatched Sunday around 12:40 p.m. to an M-32 residence in Chester Township for a trespassing complaint involving four members of the survey crew.
Hogan said the company had been providing contracted service work in the area.
After making contact with the four survey crew members, deputies determined two of the men, Eligio Franco-Cruz, 50, and Danian Franco-Loaeza, 28, were both from Mexico and in the country illegally.
Hogan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from Sault Ste. Marie were contacted and took the two subjects into custody for deportation. The two men were lodged in the Otsego County Jail while awaiting ICE officers to arrive in Gaylord.
ICE is currently investigating the company regarding employee’s status of the other members working with Precision Geophysical in the area.
According to Hogan, when ICE officers attempted to make contact Monday with the rest of the survey crew, three of the company’s employees had failed to show up for work on that day.
Hogan indicated arrest warrants for trespassing of the two survey workers not facing deportation were being sought.
petoskeynews.com/gaylord/news/ght-illegal-workers-081711,0,7954214.story
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Showing posts with label Employer Audits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Employer Audits. Show all posts
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Immigration Audits Drive Illegal Workers Underground
By MIRIAM JORDAN
The Wall Street Journal
August 16, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS—In 2009, Alba and Eugenio were making almost twice the federal minimum wage, plus benefits, cleaning a skyscraper for a national janitorial company. With two toddlers, the Mexican couple enjoyed relative prosperity in a tidy one-bedroom duplex in a working-class neighborhood here.
Late that year, federal agents audited employee records of ABM Industries Inc., forcing it to shed all the illegal workers on its payrolls in the Twin Cities. Among them was the couple, undocumented immigrants who had worked at ABM for more than a decade.
Shortly after, Alba and Eugenio, who declined to have their surname published, landed at a small janitorial concern, scrubbing car dealerships for about half the pay, without benefits. Earlier this year that employer, too, was hit by an immigration audit. In late February, Alba and Eugenio were let go.
Today, the couple is struggling to make ends meet, working part-time and often relying on handouts from food banks to feed their family.
The journey from prosperity to the economic margins followed by Alba and Eugenio is an increasingly common path for thousands of undocumented workers pushed out of their jobs by the federal government's audits of U.S. businesses, according to immigration experts, business owners and unions.
The audits, started by the Obama administration in 2009, put the onus on business to police workers, requiring companies to turn over employee records to federal agents. If the papers aren't in order, the workers are quietly let go without penalty while the companies are punished.
The audits, conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, were initially hailed by some immigrant advocates as more humane because they eliminate deportation raids, the norm during the Bush administration.
But it has become increasingly clear that the policy is pushing undocumented workers deeper underground, delivering them to the hands of unscrupulous employers, depressing wages and depriving federal, state and local coffers of taxes, according to unions, companies and immigrant advocates.
Indeed, the audits draw flak from both proponents and opponents of an immigration overhaul. Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), a leading voice among foes of giving illegal immigrants amnesty, deems audits ineffectual because they don't result in deportation.
"This means the illegal immigrant can walk down the street to the next employer and take a job that could go to an unemployed, legal worker," said Rep. Smith, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Many employers say the administration is depriving them of foreign workers who do jobs Americans refuse, even during an economic downturn, without proposing immigration reform that would supply a stable, legal labor force.
"All the audits do is keep employers in certain industries awake at night, while driving immigrants into work environments and arrangements that are indefensible," said Bill Blazar, a senior vice president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.
Audits hit national burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill last year and garment maker American Apparel in 2009, among thousands of other employers. This year, ICE said it has audited more than 2,300 companies who employ tens of thousands of workers—in construction, agriculture, food processing, restaurant and critical-infrastructure sectors—from upstate New York and Alabama to Texas and Washington.
The audits are an answer to calls by many members of Congress to strictly enforce current immigration laws before considering wholesale reform of the country's immigration system. Like his predecessor, President Barack Obama favors an immigration overhaul that would put illegal immigrants on the path to legalization.
The administration began targeting employers because they are the "magnet" for illegal immigration since they provide jobs that lure the undocumented workers, according to ICE chief John Morton.
ICE doesn't disclose the names of the audited companies, and it said it also doesn't keep tabs on how many workers lose their jobs. As of Aug. 6, ICE said 2,393 companies were being audited, the largest number in a single fiscal year.
It's impossible to track where workers hit by audits end up. But immigration experts say Minnesota offers a microcosm for how many immigrants respond.
Before the recession, millions of Latin Americans snuck across the Mexican border to take jobs in construction, cleaning and other blue-collar work. Alba and Eugenio were part of that wave, making the journey to Minneapolis in the late 1990s after hearing jobs were plentiful and the cost of living relatively low.
They settled in the burgeoning Latino enclave around East Lake Street, a commercial corridor dotted with orange, yellow and pastel buildings that are home to "taquerias," and other businesses that cater to the Spanish-speaking community. They would eventually have two children in the U.S. and send them to the local public school.
Both Alba and Eugenio got jobs at ABM, a publicly traded building-services contractor. For nine years, Alba was on a bathroom crew, swabbing toilets and wiping sinks in a 56-story tower designed by the famed architect I.M. Pei.
Alba made $7.75 an hour, above the federal minimum wage at the time. She worked eight-hour shifts five days a week and was entitled to paid vacation and sick days. She received paid maternity leave when she had each child. "Each January, my salary inched up a few cents," she says.
Wages for Eugenio, who is currently 37 and also worked in the Capella Tower, also climbed each year.
In October 2008, Eugenio was promoted to shift supervisor, at an hourly rate of $14.42, according to his last pay stub, which also shows Medicare, Social Security and tax deductions. The following month, the couple secured a bank loan and bought a 2005 blue Ford Explorer for $17,000.
By January 2009, the month President Obama took office, Alba had been promoted to vacuuming and emptying waste baskets for $12.97 an hour.
The family's monthly expenses at the time included $565 for rent, $200 for gas and $50 for cellphone usage. The family dined at buffets on the weekends and Alba signed up for English lessons. Their children, Alexander, 6, and Narely, 8, wore crisp new clothes. The couple was sending $100 to $200 a month to relatives in Mexico.
"We had job security and never imagined what was coming," said Alba, 28 years old.
In February 2009, ICE took the new White House administration by surprise when it raided an engine factory of Yamato Engine Specialists Ltd., in Bellingham, Wash., arresting more than two dozen undocumented workers. Yamato paid a $100,000 fine. The operation outraged some immigrant advocates who had expected a softer approach to work site enforcement from the new president.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered an internal review of the raid and on April 30 announced that ICE would follow a new approach "to target the root cause of illegal immigration." ICE later initiated audits of 654 companies.
The new strategy was showcased in Los Angeles that summer when ICE audited American Apparel. No agents stormed the premises. ICE delivered a written notice advising the company to turn over employee records—including federal I-9 worker eligibility forms—and warning it of potential fines. The clothing maker lost about 1,500 workers, more than a quarter of its work force, and paid about $35,000 in fines, said Peter Schey, the attorney who represented the company during the audit for what he said were "paperwork violations."
Under federal law, employers are obligated to ensure their workers are eligible to work in the U.S. However, many complain that workers present fake documents and companies don't have the ability to patrol them. They also fear discrimination suits for demanding additional documents from workers they suspect are in the country illegally.
Later that summer, ICE sent an audit notice to ABM in the Twin Cities. Anxious workers huddled in the halls of the skyscrapers as word spread that "la migra," the Spanish term used to refer to immigration agents, was targeting their employer.
The workers feared being arrested and separated from their children. "This was unchartered territory—the first big I-9 audit" in Minnesota, recalls John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
A few weeks later, ICE notified ABM that a number of workers' I-9 documents were suspect and asked that the workers provide different documentation, such as a valid social security number and driver's license, an ABM spokesman said.
"Our policy is full compliance with the law and we cooperated with the administration in this matter," the spokesman said.
By late October, 1,250 undocumented workers at ABM, including Alba and Eugenio, had been let go or left, union officials say.
ABM, which employs nearly 100,000 nationwide, paid $108,000 in civil penalties, according to ICE, which declined to elaborate. It was able to replace all the undocumented workers, the spokesman said.
The effects of the audit reverberated through the East Lake Street immigrant enclave. Alba and Eugenio's neighbor, Marta, and her husband, lost their jobs at ABM and then lost their three-bedroom house, where they had lived for 12 years, to foreclosure. Marta's husband eventually got a job as a dishwasher making $8 per hour.
Nearby, Brenda, the daughter of another ABM employee who lost her job, dropped out of high school so she could get a full-time cleaning job to help pay bills, including the mortgage on the powder-blue house that her parents had bought in 2006.
"When my mom got fired, that's when all the problems started," said Brenda, 20, who had planned to attend college and become a police officer.
In November, Alba and Eugenio landed jobs at ROC Inc. for a net sum of $155 each per week to wash a Chevrolet dealership six nights a week in the St. Paul suburb of Roseville. Pay stubs don't show an hourly rate. The couple say they didn't receive benefits or paid time off.
ROC didn't give them an auto scrubber, a machine customarily used to wash large areas. Mike Chmielewski, the dealership's finance manager, confirms the couple swept and mopped the 10,000-square-foot area themselves. "They were very hardworking," he said. "They had personal pride in doing the job well."
People familiar with the company say that ROC, which has contracts with dealers selling major car brands, paid wages that dipped below the federal minimum wage.
To supplement their income, Eugenio found part-time work parking cars for an auto-rental company at the airport, earning minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. He had no fixed hours. Alba said she began visiting the food pantries of community organizations for staples like rice, beans, canned corn and sugar.
Late last year, Chipotle in the Twin Cities, hit by an audit, dismissed hundreds of workers. In January, ICE audited ROC, which immediately placed ads for workers in the local newspaper.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency doesn't comment on investigations.
In a statement, ROC said it complied with ICE's request for information and hasn't received further contact from the agency. "ROC Inc. follows all laws and regulations regarding state and federal employment practices," said Peter Mogren, CFO of ROC. He declined to answer specific questions.
Alba said she and her husband learned about the audit in February. "We were distraught," she said. The company told them to take time off until immigration reported back the results of the audit, Alba said.
Mr. Chmielewski, the Chevy dealership manager, said the worker who replaced Alba and Eugenio was an American man who "had no pride in his work."
With complaints mounting, ROC fired many of the new workers and hired subcontractors to supply cleaning crews, according to people close to the company. Such a practice, which is common in the industry, enables companies to use workers who don't appear on the payroll.
In April a subcontractor called Alba and Eugenio and soon they were back cleaning the Chevy dealership, where managers said they were delighted when the couple returned. A month later, however, the subcontractor told the couple he couldn't employ them because of the ICE investigation of ROC, the couple said.
Alba found part-time work cleaning hotel rooms for $10.33 an hour. Eugenio recently found a landscaping job that pays $11 an hour.
With their children's future in mind, the couple says they plan to remain living in the East Lake Street enclave. Still, this summer they've sent the kids to Mexico to stay with relatives. "That way we can work," Alba said.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A1
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Wall Street Journal
August 16, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS—In 2009, Alba and Eugenio were making almost twice the federal minimum wage, plus benefits, cleaning a skyscraper for a national janitorial company. With two toddlers, the Mexican couple enjoyed relative prosperity in a tidy one-bedroom duplex in a working-class neighborhood here.
Late that year, federal agents audited employee records of ABM Industries Inc., forcing it to shed all the illegal workers on its payrolls in the Twin Cities. Among them was the couple, undocumented immigrants who had worked at ABM for more than a decade.
Shortly after, Alba and Eugenio, who declined to have their surname published, landed at a small janitorial concern, scrubbing car dealerships for about half the pay, without benefits. Earlier this year that employer, too, was hit by an immigration audit. In late February, Alba and Eugenio were let go.
Today, the couple is struggling to make ends meet, working part-time and often relying on handouts from food banks to feed their family.
The journey from prosperity to the economic margins followed by Alba and Eugenio is an increasingly common path for thousands of undocumented workers pushed out of their jobs by the federal government's audits of U.S. businesses, according to immigration experts, business owners and unions.
The audits, started by the Obama administration in 2009, put the onus on business to police workers, requiring companies to turn over employee records to federal agents. If the papers aren't in order, the workers are quietly let go without penalty while the companies are punished.
The audits, conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, were initially hailed by some immigrant advocates as more humane because they eliminate deportation raids, the norm during the Bush administration.
But it has become increasingly clear that the policy is pushing undocumented workers deeper underground, delivering them to the hands of unscrupulous employers, depressing wages and depriving federal, state and local coffers of taxes, according to unions, companies and immigrant advocates.
Indeed, the audits draw flak from both proponents and opponents of an immigration overhaul. Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), a leading voice among foes of giving illegal immigrants amnesty, deems audits ineffectual because they don't result in deportation.
"This means the illegal immigrant can walk down the street to the next employer and take a job that could go to an unemployed, legal worker," said Rep. Smith, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Many employers say the administration is depriving them of foreign workers who do jobs Americans refuse, even during an economic downturn, without proposing immigration reform that would supply a stable, legal labor force.
"All the audits do is keep employers in certain industries awake at night, while driving immigrants into work environments and arrangements that are indefensible," said Bill Blazar, a senior vice president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.
Audits hit national burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill last year and garment maker American Apparel in 2009, among thousands of other employers. This year, ICE said it has audited more than 2,300 companies who employ tens of thousands of workers—in construction, agriculture, food processing, restaurant and critical-infrastructure sectors—from upstate New York and Alabama to Texas and Washington.
The audits are an answer to calls by many members of Congress to strictly enforce current immigration laws before considering wholesale reform of the country's immigration system. Like his predecessor, President Barack Obama favors an immigration overhaul that would put illegal immigrants on the path to legalization.
The administration began targeting employers because they are the "magnet" for illegal immigration since they provide jobs that lure the undocumented workers, according to ICE chief John Morton.
ICE doesn't disclose the names of the audited companies, and it said it also doesn't keep tabs on how many workers lose their jobs. As of Aug. 6, ICE said 2,393 companies were being audited, the largest number in a single fiscal year.
It's impossible to track where workers hit by audits end up. But immigration experts say Minnesota offers a microcosm for how many immigrants respond.
Before the recession, millions of Latin Americans snuck across the Mexican border to take jobs in construction, cleaning and other blue-collar work. Alba and Eugenio were part of that wave, making the journey to Minneapolis in the late 1990s after hearing jobs were plentiful and the cost of living relatively low.
They settled in the burgeoning Latino enclave around East Lake Street, a commercial corridor dotted with orange, yellow and pastel buildings that are home to "taquerias," and other businesses that cater to the Spanish-speaking community. They would eventually have two children in the U.S. and send them to the local public school.
Both Alba and Eugenio got jobs at ABM, a publicly traded building-services contractor. For nine years, Alba was on a bathroom crew, swabbing toilets and wiping sinks in a 56-story tower designed by the famed architect I.M. Pei.
Alba made $7.75 an hour, above the federal minimum wage at the time. She worked eight-hour shifts five days a week and was entitled to paid vacation and sick days. She received paid maternity leave when she had each child. "Each January, my salary inched up a few cents," she says.
Wages for Eugenio, who is currently 37 and also worked in the Capella Tower, also climbed each year.
In October 2008, Eugenio was promoted to shift supervisor, at an hourly rate of $14.42, according to his last pay stub, which also shows Medicare, Social Security and tax deductions. The following month, the couple secured a bank loan and bought a 2005 blue Ford Explorer for $17,000.
By January 2009, the month President Obama took office, Alba had been promoted to vacuuming and emptying waste baskets for $12.97 an hour.
The family's monthly expenses at the time included $565 for rent, $200 for gas and $50 for cellphone usage. The family dined at buffets on the weekends and Alba signed up for English lessons. Their children, Alexander, 6, and Narely, 8, wore crisp new clothes. The couple was sending $100 to $200 a month to relatives in Mexico.
"We had job security and never imagined what was coming," said Alba, 28 years old.
In February 2009, ICE took the new White House administration by surprise when it raided an engine factory of Yamato Engine Specialists Ltd., in Bellingham, Wash., arresting more than two dozen undocumented workers. Yamato paid a $100,000 fine. The operation outraged some immigrant advocates who had expected a softer approach to work site enforcement from the new president.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered an internal review of the raid and on April 30 announced that ICE would follow a new approach "to target the root cause of illegal immigration." ICE later initiated audits of 654 companies.
The new strategy was showcased in Los Angeles that summer when ICE audited American Apparel. No agents stormed the premises. ICE delivered a written notice advising the company to turn over employee records—including federal I-9 worker eligibility forms—and warning it of potential fines. The clothing maker lost about 1,500 workers, more than a quarter of its work force, and paid about $35,000 in fines, said Peter Schey, the attorney who represented the company during the audit for what he said were "paperwork violations."
Under federal law, employers are obligated to ensure their workers are eligible to work in the U.S. However, many complain that workers present fake documents and companies don't have the ability to patrol them. They also fear discrimination suits for demanding additional documents from workers they suspect are in the country illegally.
Later that summer, ICE sent an audit notice to ABM in the Twin Cities. Anxious workers huddled in the halls of the skyscrapers as word spread that "la migra," the Spanish term used to refer to immigration agents, was targeting their employer.
The workers feared being arrested and separated from their children. "This was unchartered territory—the first big I-9 audit" in Minnesota, recalls John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
A few weeks later, ICE notified ABM that a number of workers' I-9 documents were suspect and asked that the workers provide different documentation, such as a valid social security number and driver's license, an ABM spokesman said.
"Our policy is full compliance with the law and we cooperated with the administration in this matter," the spokesman said.
By late October, 1,250 undocumented workers at ABM, including Alba and Eugenio, had been let go or left, union officials say.
ABM, which employs nearly 100,000 nationwide, paid $108,000 in civil penalties, according to ICE, which declined to elaborate. It was able to replace all the undocumented workers, the spokesman said.
The effects of the audit reverberated through the East Lake Street immigrant enclave. Alba and Eugenio's neighbor, Marta, and her husband, lost their jobs at ABM and then lost their three-bedroom house, where they had lived for 12 years, to foreclosure. Marta's husband eventually got a job as a dishwasher making $8 per hour.
Nearby, Brenda, the daughter of another ABM employee who lost her job, dropped out of high school so she could get a full-time cleaning job to help pay bills, including the mortgage on the powder-blue house that her parents had bought in 2006.
"When my mom got fired, that's when all the problems started," said Brenda, 20, who had planned to attend college and become a police officer.
In November, Alba and Eugenio landed jobs at ROC Inc. for a net sum of $155 each per week to wash a Chevrolet dealership six nights a week in the St. Paul suburb of Roseville. Pay stubs don't show an hourly rate. The couple say they didn't receive benefits or paid time off.
ROC didn't give them an auto scrubber, a machine customarily used to wash large areas. Mike Chmielewski, the dealership's finance manager, confirms the couple swept and mopped the 10,000-square-foot area themselves. "They were very hardworking," he said. "They had personal pride in doing the job well."
People familiar with the company say that ROC, which has contracts with dealers selling major car brands, paid wages that dipped below the federal minimum wage.
To supplement their income, Eugenio found part-time work parking cars for an auto-rental company at the airport, earning minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. He had no fixed hours. Alba said she began visiting the food pantries of community organizations for staples like rice, beans, canned corn and sugar.
Late last year, Chipotle in the Twin Cities, hit by an audit, dismissed hundreds of workers. In January, ICE audited ROC, which immediately placed ads for workers in the local newspaper.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency doesn't comment on investigations.
In a statement, ROC said it complied with ICE's request for information and hasn't received further contact from the agency. "ROC Inc. follows all laws and regulations regarding state and federal employment practices," said Peter Mogren, CFO of ROC. He declined to answer specific questions.
Alba said she and her husband learned about the audit in February. "We were distraught," she said. The company told them to take time off until immigration reported back the results of the audit, Alba said.
Mr. Chmielewski, the Chevy dealership manager, said the worker who replaced Alba and Eugenio was an American man who "had no pride in his work."
With complaints mounting, ROC fired many of the new workers and hired subcontractors to supply cleaning crews, according to people close to the company. Such a practice, which is common in the industry, enables companies to use workers who don't appear on the payroll.
In April a subcontractor called Alba and Eugenio and soon they were back cleaning the Chevy dealership, where managers said they were delighted when the couple returned. A month later, however, the subcontractor told the couple he couldn't employ them because of the ICE investigation of ROC, the couple said.
Alba found part-time work cleaning hotel rooms for $10.33 an hour. Eugenio recently found a landscaping job that pays $11 an hour.
With their children's future in mind, the couple says they plan to remain living in the East Lake Street enclave. Still, this summer they've sent the kids to Mexico to stay with relatives. "That way we can work," Alba said.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A1
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Monday, July 18, 2011
As Immigration Audits Increase, Some Employers Pay a High Price
By ADRIANA GARDELLA
The New York Times
July 13, 2011
David Cox was at his desk in September 2009, when his receptionist announced an unexpected visitor, a special agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. Mr. Cox is chief executive of L. E. Cooke Company, a fourth-generation, family-owned nursery in Visalia, Calif., that grows deciduous trees and shrubs. The agent handed Mr. Cox a letter and informed him he had three days to produce I-9 employment-eligibility forms for all current employees. Mr. Cox said the agent was “pleasant and nonthreatening,” but he noticed she carried a gun.
L. E. Cook was one of 1,444 businesses to receive an introduction to ICE’s stepped-up worksite enforcement program in 2009 — almost three times the number audited in 2008. Last year, 2,196 businesses were audited. An ICE representative said the agency did not categorize audits by business type and that the law applied across industries.
“Any company is at risk at any given time,” said Leon Versfeld, an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, Mo. In one prominent case, American Apparel, the clothing manufacturer, was forced to terminate 1,800 undocumented workers after a 2009 audit. Chipotle Mexican Grill, the restaurant chain, has let go hundreds of workers since its audit began last year.
While the administration of George W. Bush focused on headline-making raids that resulted in arrests of immigrant workers, the Obama administration has gone after employers with ICE’s I-9 audits on the theory that employers who hire unauthorized workers create the demand that drives most illegal immigration.
In addition, the Social Security Administration has resumed sending “no-match” letters after a three-year hiatus. The letters, which alert employers that information on an employee’s W-2 form does not match information on file with the Social Security Administration, had been halted in 2007. The main purpose is ostensibly to ensure that employee Social Security accounts are credited properly, but the letters can also be used by ICE to show that an employer had reason to believe an employee might not have documentation.
“The master narrative of immigration reform is being crafted around the notion of unscrupulous employers seeking cheap labor,” said Craig Regelbrugge, a lawyer and lobbyist with the American Nursery and Landscape Association.
Unscrupulous employers exist, Mr. Regelbrugge said, but more often he sees business owners who are just trying to follow the law. When a new hire produces seemingly legitimate forms of documentation required by the I-9 form, the employer must accept them. (To refuse could expose the owner to charges of employment discrimination.) “The employer is not required to be a forensics expert,” said Monte Lake, an immigration lawyer in Washington.
The upshot of the more aggressive enforcement is that even employers who have followed the rules can be devastated by an audit that compels them to fire valuable, long-time employees.
The I-9 audit of Mr. Cox’s nursery revealed that 26 of his 99 employees were not authorized to work in the United States. Because ICE determined he had acted reasonably in hiring them, Mr. Cox was not fined or held criminally liable. But after confirming that the 26 employees could not produce authentic documents, he was forced to fire them. All had been with him for five to 10 years, and he lost half of his budding crew, a highly specialized team that grafts trees. “Telling them was probably the worst day of my life,” he said. “I don’t just sit at a desk here, I’m actually out in the field harvesting with them.”
Mr. Cox said he was lucky the audit hit midrecession, after he had already reduced his work force and inventory. Still, he estimates that his 2009 expenses climbed 10 percent as a result of the terminations. And, despite California’s high unemployment rate, finding replacement employees has proved challenging. “I’ve gone through more workers this year than I have in the past 10 years combined,” Mr. Cox said.
While most such workers earn the $8-an-hour minimum wage in California, Mr. Cox said he generally paid $8.90 an hour for a 50-hour week. The terminated budding crew workers made $10 an hour. Compensation includes state-mandated overtime of time and a half, health insurance and two weeks’ paid vacation. “If I raised the wage,” he said, “I’d have to shut my doors.”
Meanwhile, after an audit, ICE does not round up the affected workers for deportation. That meant Mr. Cox’s former workers were free to seek employment elsewhere — including with his competitors. Mr. Cox said that he knew through his remaining workers that the terminated employees were all working in the area.
After the audit, Mr. Cox started using E-Verify, a federal program that lets employers confirm the authenticity of a job applicant’s Social Security and green card numbers electronically. Although the program’s use is mandatory in some states, its reliability has been debated, and it remains voluntary in California. A bill in Congress that would require all American employers to use the program could go to a vote this month.
The owner of another agricultural business, this one on the East Coast, requested anonymity because he was currently undergoing an I-9 audit that had resulted in the loss of half of his work force. He said the employees he was forced to terminate were 25 to 40 years old and had been in the United States for five to 10 years. Many were raising children born here. “They’re all staying here and working for someone else,” he said.
After the terminations, the East Coast owner said he was struggling to get replacement workers up to speed. He has endured a substantial increase in customer complaints — to 30 a week from about three — and has reduced his 2011 sales goals by 15 percent. The terminated employees included members of his management team who earned $12 to $15 an hour. He paid them all their vacation pay, and said he was bothered by the perception that employers like him were unscrupulous and treated undocumented workers unfairly. “We did everything by the book,” he said. “There were a lot of tears here.”
While the human side of the issue is compelling, employers must comply with the law, said Mr. Lake, the immigration lawyer. There is no way to avoid an ICE audit, but establishing and maintaining the right procedures can help you survive one. Mr. Lake recommends that employers review their practices and seek professional assistance if they are not knowledgeable about legal requirements. Sloppy record-keeping can lead to fines for technical violations.
If a review reveals incomplete I-9 forms, employers should fill in the missing information and initial it with the date and time it was added. Mr. Lake advises random checks to ensure that employees are completing the forms. Be sure to retain I-9 forms for the legally required period of time — the longer of three years or one year after the employee leaves the company. Business owners should understand their obligations upon receiving a no-match letter. Mr. Lake advises employers who receive these letters to meet one-on-one with the designated worker to ensure that a clerical error did not cause the confusion, confirming that names are spelled correctly and no numbers have been transposed.
Assuming there is no mistake, Mr. Lake said the owner must instruct the worker to pursue the issue with the Social Security Administration and report back within a “reasonable time.” Document your actions and treat all workers the same, Mr. Lake said. If an employee reports that everything is fine, and you get another no-match letter the next year, you know it is not fine. After that, Mr. Lake said, there is no good answer if ICE conducts an audit and asks, “Why didn’t you take action the second time?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/business/smallbusiness/how-a-small-business-can-survive-an-immigration-audit.html?_r=1
The New York Times
July 13, 2011
David Cox was at his desk in September 2009, when his receptionist announced an unexpected visitor, a special agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. Mr. Cox is chief executive of L. E. Cooke Company, a fourth-generation, family-owned nursery in Visalia, Calif., that grows deciduous trees and shrubs. The agent handed Mr. Cox a letter and informed him he had three days to produce I-9 employment-eligibility forms for all current employees. Mr. Cox said the agent was “pleasant and nonthreatening,” but he noticed she carried a gun.
L. E. Cook was one of 1,444 businesses to receive an introduction to ICE’s stepped-up worksite enforcement program in 2009 — almost three times the number audited in 2008. Last year, 2,196 businesses were audited. An ICE representative said the agency did not categorize audits by business type and that the law applied across industries.
“Any company is at risk at any given time,” said Leon Versfeld, an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, Mo. In one prominent case, American Apparel, the clothing manufacturer, was forced to terminate 1,800 undocumented workers after a 2009 audit. Chipotle Mexican Grill, the restaurant chain, has let go hundreds of workers since its audit began last year.
While the administration of George W. Bush focused on headline-making raids that resulted in arrests of immigrant workers, the Obama administration has gone after employers with ICE’s I-9 audits on the theory that employers who hire unauthorized workers create the demand that drives most illegal immigration.
In addition, the Social Security Administration has resumed sending “no-match” letters after a three-year hiatus. The letters, which alert employers that information on an employee’s W-2 form does not match information on file with the Social Security Administration, had been halted in 2007. The main purpose is ostensibly to ensure that employee Social Security accounts are credited properly, but the letters can also be used by ICE to show that an employer had reason to believe an employee might not have documentation.
“The master narrative of immigration reform is being crafted around the notion of unscrupulous employers seeking cheap labor,” said Craig Regelbrugge, a lawyer and lobbyist with the American Nursery and Landscape Association.
Unscrupulous employers exist, Mr. Regelbrugge said, but more often he sees business owners who are just trying to follow the law. When a new hire produces seemingly legitimate forms of documentation required by the I-9 form, the employer must accept them. (To refuse could expose the owner to charges of employment discrimination.) “The employer is not required to be a forensics expert,” said Monte Lake, an immigration lawyer in Washington.
The upshot of the more aggressive enforcement is that even employers who have followed the rules can be devastated by an audit that compels them to fire valuable, long-time employees.
The I-9 audit of Mr. Cox’s nursery revealed that 26 of his 99 employees were not authorized to work in the United States. Because ICE determined he had acted reasonably in hiring them, Mr. Cox was not fined or held criminally liable. But after confirming that the 26 employees could not produce authentic documents, he was forced to fire them. All had been with him for five to 10 years, and he lost half of his budding crew, a highly specialized team that grafts trees. “Telling them was probably the worst day of my life,” he said. “I don’t just sit at a desk here, I’m actually out in the field harvesting with them.”
Mr. Cox said he was lucky the audit hit midrecession, after he had already reduced his work force and inventory. Still, he estimates that his 2009 expenses climbed 10 percent as a result of the terminations. And, despite California’s high unemployment rate, finding replacement employees has proved challenging. “I’ve gone through more workers this year than I have in the past 10 years combined,” Mr. Cox said.
While most such workers earn the $8-an-hour minimum wage in California, Mr. Cox said he generally paid $8.90 an hour for a 50-hour week. The terminated budding crew workers made $10 an hour. Compensation includes state-mandated overtime of time and a half, health insurance and two weeks’ paid vacation. “If I raised the wage,” he said, “I’d have to shut my doors.”
Meanwhile, after an audit, ICE does not round up the affected workers for deportation. That meant Mr. Cox’s former workers were free to seek employment elsewhere — including with his competitors. Mr. Cox said that he knew through his remaining workers that the terminated employees were all working in the area.
After the audit, Mr. Cox started using E-Verify, a federal program that lets employers confirm the authenticity of a job applicant’s Social Security and green card numbers electronically. Although the program’s use is mandatory in some states, its reliability has been debated, and it remains voluntary in California. A bill in Congress that would require all American employers to use the program could go to a vote this month.
The owner of another agricultural business, this one on the East Coast, requested anonymity because he was currently undergoing an I-9 audit that had resulted in the loss of half of his work force. He said the employees he was forced to terminate were 25 to 40 years old and had been in the United States for five to 10 years. Many were raising children born here. “They’re all staying here and working for someone else,” he said.
After the terminations, the East Coast owner said he was struggling to get replacement workers up to speed. He has endured a substantial increase in customer complaints — to 30 a week from about three — and has reduced his 2011 sales goals by 15 percent. The terminated employees included members of his management team who earned $12 to $15 an hour. He paid them all their vacation pay, and said he was bothered by the perception that employers like him were unscrupulous and treated undocumented workers unfairly. “We did everything by the book,” he said. “There were a lot of tears here.”
While the human side of the issue is compelling, employers must comply with the law, said Mr. Lake, the immigration lawyer. There is no way to avoid an ICE audit, but establishing and maintaining the right procedures can help you survive one. Mr. Lake recommends that employers review their practices and seek professional assistance if they are not knowledgeable about legal requirements. Sloppy record-keeping can lead to fines for technical violations.
If a review reveals incomplete I-9 forms, employers should fill in the missing information and initial it with the date and time it was added. Mr. Lake advises random checks to ensure that employees are completing the forms. Be sure to retain I-9 forms for the legally required period of time — the longer of three years or one year after the employee leaves the company. Business owners should understand their obligations upon receiving a no-match letter. Mr. Lake advises employers who receive these letters to meet one-on-one with the designated worker to ensure that a clerical error did not cause the confusion, confirming that names are spelled correctly and no numbers have been transposed.
Assuming there is no mistake, Mr. Lake said the owner must instruct the worker to pursue the issue with the Social Security Administration and report back within a “reasonable time.” Document your actions and treat all workers the same, Mr. Lake said. If an employee reports that everything is fine, and you get another no-match letter the next year, you know it is not fine. After that, Mr. Lake said, there is no good answer if ICE conducts an audit and asks, “Why didn’t you take action the second time?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/business/smallbusiness/how-a-small-business-can-survive-an-immigration-audit.html?_r=1
Thursday, June 16, 2011
ICE auditing company hiring records for violations
Federal immigration authorities are beginning a new round of investigations to make sure businesses hire only people authorized to work in the U.S., focusing on companies vital to national security and other government and economic functions.
By KATE BRUMBACK
The Associated Press
15 June 2011
Federal immigration authorities are beginning a new round of investigations to make sure businesses hire only people authorized to work in the U.S., focusing on companies vital to national security and other government and economic functions.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday it is notifying 1,000 companies that it will inspect their I-9s, the forms that new employees complete, along with documents the workers provide to show they are eligible to work in the U.S.
"The inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation, with an emphasis on businesses related to critical infrastructure and key resources," ICE said in a statement.
That includes sectors such as banking and finance, commercial nuclear reactors, dams, drinking water and water treatment systems, government facilities, information technology, telecommunications and transportation systems, among others.
"Ultimately, our focus on businesses related to critical infrastructure and key resources aligns with our priority as an agency to first and foremost minimize threats to national security and public safety," said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen.
ICE declined to name the businesses or give their locations, but said they range in size from small businesses to national brand names. Businesses to be audited are selected based on tips or intelligence that has led the agency to believe the company may be engaging in improper hiring practices, Christensen said.
The Obama administration has made cracking down on employers a key part of its immigration enforcement policy, emphasizing employer audits more than the high-profile workplace raids done during the Bush administration.
"ICE's worksite enforcement strategy focuses on employers - penalizing those who knowingly violate the law and deterring others from breaking the law," Christensen said. "ICE may arrest workers we encounter, but arresting workers in and of itself is not a strategy or the goal of the program."
The idea behind I-9 audits is to encourage a culture of voluntary compliance, Christensen said. In much the same way that many individuals and businesses pay their taxes because they figure there's a good chance they'll be audited, ICE wants to show businesses that there are consequences for hiring people who aren't eligible to work here, she said.
This is the fifth in a series of employer investigations, dubbed "I-9 audit surges," by federal immigration authorities. The most recent previous round was in February, when 1,000 businesses were audited. This new action brings the fiscal year 2011 I-9 audit total to 2,338 audits, up from 2,196 the previous fiscal year.
After receiving a notice of inspection, a company generally has three business days to present the I-9 forms. ICE generally also requests supporting documentation, which may include a copy of the payroll, list of current employees, articles of incorporation, and business licenses.
ICE can take a variety of actions against employers when violations are found, depending on the level of seriousness. In the most serious cases, violations can result in criminal arrests of employers. In fiscal year 2010, 196 employers were arrested, up from 114 the year before.
ICE can also debar a business or individual, meaning the offending employer can be kept from bidding for federal contracts. ICE took that action against 97 businesses and 49 individuals in fiscal year 2010.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015325766_apusimmigrationemployercrackdown.html
By KATE BRUMBACK
The Associated Press
15 June 2011
Federal immigration authorities are beginning a new round of investigations to make sure businesses hire only people authorized to work in the U.S., focusing on companies vital to national security and other government and economic functions.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday it is notifying 1,000 companies that it will inspect their I-9s, the forms that new employees complete, along with documents the workers provide to show they are eligible to work in the U.S.
"The inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation, with an emphasis on businesses related to critical infrastructure and key resources," ICE said in a statement.
That includes sectors such as banking and finance, commercial nuclear reactors, dams, drinking water and water treatment systems, government facilities, information technology, telecommunications and transportation systems, among others.
"Ultimately, our focus on businesses related to critical infrastructure and key resources aligns with our priority as an agency to first and foremost minimize threats to national security and public safety," said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen.
ICE declined to name the businesses or give their locations, but said they range in size from small businesses to national brand names. Businesses to be audited are selected based on tips or intelligence that has led the agency to believe the company may be engaging in improper hiring practices, Christensen said.
The Obama administration has made cracking down on employers a key part of its immigration enforcement policy, emphasizing employer audits more than the high-profile workplace raids done during the Bush administration.
"ICE's worksite enforcement strategy focuses on employers - penalizing those who knowingly violate the law and deterring others from breaking the law," Christensen said. "ICE may arrest workers we encounter, but arresting workers in and of itself is not a strategy or the goal of the program."
The idea behind I-9 audits is to encourage a culture of voluntary compliance, Christensen said. In much the same way that many individuals and businesses pay their taxes because they figure there's a good chance they'll be audited, ICE wants to show businesses that there are consequences for hiring people who aren't eligible to work here, she said.
This is the fifth in a series of employer investigations, dubbed "I-9 audit surges," by federal immigration authorities. The most recent previous round was in February, when 1,000 businesses were audited. This new action brings the fiscal year 2011 I-9 audit total to 2,338 audits, up from 2,196 the previous fiscal year.
After receiving a notice of inspection, a company generally has three business days to present the I-9 forms. ICE generally also requests supporting documentation, which may include a copy of the payroll, list of current employees, articles of incorporation, and business licenses.
ICE can take a variety of actions against employers when violations are found, depending on the level of seriousness. In the most serious cases, violations can result in criminal arrests of employers. In fiscal year 2010, 196 employers were arrested, up from 114 the year before.
ICE can also debar a business or individual, meaning the offending employer can be kept from bidding for federal contracts. ICE took that action against 97 businesses and 49 individuals in fiscal year 2010.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015325766_apusimmigrationemployercrackdown.html
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Firm's owner gets 10 months for hiring illegal immigrants
Rick M. Vartanian told officials that unauthorized workers identified in an earlier audit were no longer with Brownwood Furniture of Rancho Cucamonga. In fact, 18 still were.
By Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times
March 09, 2011
A Rancho Cucamonga furniture company owner was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, federal officials said Tuesday.
Rick M. Vartanian, 57, of Ladera Ranch had been convicted of obstruction of justice and employing illegal immigrants at his company, Brownwood Furniture.
Along with the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Gary Fees on Monday ordered Vartanian to pay a $15,000 fine.
In November 2009, officials said, Vartanian told investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that unauthorized workers identified during an earlier audit were no longer employed by the company.
In fact, Vartanian had kept 18 of those workers on his payroll and was concealing their employment, according to federal officials, who said the investigation began when the immigration agency received an anonymous tip that Brownwood Furniture had hired the illegal workers.
A federal audit of the company's personnel in 2009 found that 61 of the firm's 73 employees had submitted invalid documents to obtain their jobs, officials said.
"As these sentences make clear, employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers face serious consequences," Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement.
Brownwood Furniture's vice president, Michael Patrick Eberly, 48, of Alta Loma, also pleaded guilty to one count of employing unauthorized workers.
He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
In 2009, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano directed immigration officials to focus their worksite enforcement resources on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In fiscal year 2010, a record 180 business owners, employers and managers were charged with illegal hiring, up from 114 in fiscal 2009 and 135 the previous year.
Also in fiscal 2010, immigration officials conducted more than 2,200 employer audits, up from more than 1,400 in fiscal 2009.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/09/local/la-me-0309-illegal-hiring-20110309
By Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times
March 09, 2011
A Rancho Cucamonga furniture company owner was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, federal officials said Tuesday.
Rick M. Vartanian, 57, of Ladera Ranch had been convicted of obstruction of justice and employing illegal immigrants at his company, Brownwood Furniture.
Along with the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Gary Fees on Monday ordered Vartanian to pay a $15,000 fine.
In November 2009, officials said, Vartanian told investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that unauthorized workers identified during an earlier audit were no longer employed by the company.
In fact, Vartanian had kept 18 of those workers on his payroll and was concealing their employment, according to federal officials, who said the investigation began when the immigration agency received an anonymous tip that Brownwood Furniture had hired the illegal workers.
A federal audit of the company's personnel in 2009 found that 61 of the firm's 73 employees had submitted invalid documents to obtain their jobs, officials said.
"As these sentences make clear, employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers face serious consequences," Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement.
Brownwood Furniture's vice president, Michael Patrick Eberly, 48, of Alta Loma, also pleaded guilty to one count of employing unauthorized workers.
He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
In 2009, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano directed immigration officials to focus their worksite enforcement resources on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In fiscal year 2010, a record 180 business owners, employers and managers were charged with illegal hiring, up from 114 in fiscal 2009 and 135 the previous year.
Also in fiscal 2010, immigration officials conducted more than 2,200 employer audits, up from more than 1,400 in fiscal 2009.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/09/local/la-me-0309-illegal-hiring-20110309
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
ICE audits target illegal workers
By Mike Sunnucks
Phoenix Business Journal
February 21, 2011
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is auditing more businesses — in particular fast food and quick serve restaurants it suspects might be hiring illegal immigrants. That includes the Southwest and nationally.
The ICE audits are a far cry from the immigration raids conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said Nancy-Jo Merritt, a partner and employment attorney for the Phoenix law office of Fennemore Craig PC. “It’s not like the sheriff’s thing,” said Merritt.
The ICE actions are more akin to IRS tax audits, while the MCSO raids are more like an episode of “Cops.”
MCSO deputies have gone into businesses to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and seize files. Sometimes Sheriff Joe Arpaio is there with media in tow.
The stepped-up ICE actions target businesses that have workers listed under Social Security numbers that are either bogus or replicated elsewhere, Merritt said.
Merritt said ICE has sent out notice of inspection letters to a number of Arizona businesses telling them to have employment records and I-9 worker identification forms ready within three days.
Restaurants along with hotels, construction and services are among industries that tend to have substantial numbers of immigrants workers, some with legal employment status and some of illegal.
ICE is not allowing employers to ask for extensions to comply with the audit.
Both the ICE audits and sheriff’s raids bring attention to illegal workers and discourage other companies from breaking laws, Merritt said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2011/02/ice-audits-target-illegal-workers.html
Phoenix Business Journal
February 21, 2011
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is auditing more businesses — in particular fast food and quick serve restaurants it suspects might be hiring illegal immigrants. That includes the Southwest and nationally.
The ICE audits are a far cry from the immigration raids conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said Nancy-Jo Merritt, a partner and employment attorney for the Phoenix law office of Fennemore Craig PC. “It’s not like the sheriff’s thing,” said Merritt.
The ICE actions are more akin to IRS tax audits, while the MCSO raids are more like an episode of “Cops.”
MCSO deputies have gone into businesses to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and seize files. Sometimes Sheriff Joe Arpaio is there with media in tow.
The stepped-up ICE actions target businesses that have workers listed under Social Security numbers that are either bogus or replicated elsewhere, Merritt said.
Merritt said ICE has sent out notice of inspection letters to a number of Arizona businesses telling them to have employment records and I-9 worker identification forms ready within three days.
Restaurants along with hotels, construction and services are among industries that tend to have substantial numbers of immigrants workers, some with legal employment status and some of illegal.
ICE is not allowing employers to ask for extensions to comply with the audit.
Both the ICE audits and sheriff’s raids bring attention to illegal workers and discourage other companies from breaking laws, Merritt said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2011/02/ice-audits-target-illegal-workers.html
Friday, February 18, 2011
ICE auditing 1,000 more companies' hiring records
The Associated Press
February 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is launching a new round of worksite investigations, maintaining the pressure on businesses to make sure they are hiring only people who can legally work in the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday it has notified 1,000 companies of upcoming audits of their I-9s, forms that new employees complete, and of the identification documents those employees provided to show they are eligible to work in the U.S.
"The inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation — no one industry is being targeted nor is any one industry immune from scrutiny," ICE said in a statement. The agency declined to name the businesses to be inspected.
The latest round of audits will differ slightly from previous ones. Agents previously were told to audit a certain number each of small, medium and large businesses, said Dawn Lurie, who advises businesses on immigration compliance.
But this time agents are being encouraged to investigate larger companies if that's where tips and leads are pointing them. A new Employment Compliance Inspection Center in the Washington suburb of Crystal City, Va., means they'll have more auditors and other resources for those larger investigations.
Audits are usually performed at the state in which a company is headquartered, but agents are being told they can audit other parts of the company if their records review shows there may be problems beyond the headquarters, Lurie said.
Lurie said the new focus for the audits is a sign that ICE is becoming more sophisticated in its worksite enforcement.
The Obama administration's worksite strategy differs from that of the Bush administration, which focused on high-profile raids that led to arrests of hundreds of workers at a single work site.
ICE still conducts raids, but they are smaller and less visible. The current administration also has been criticized for auditing mostly small businesses.
Lurie said she thinks the administration's audit tactic is having an effect.
"I do think businesses should be more frightened. Companies across the U.S. need to take compliance seriously. It's ridiculous to say you are not doing anything . we will wait until the federal government knocks at door," she said.
Companies can take small, inexpensive steps to help themselves, she said.
The administration has investigated records of such companies as Krispy Kreme and Abercrombie and Fitch. An immigration official has said such audits doubled in 2010 over 2008.
But critics say the administration's tactic isn't going far enough. At a recent House subcommittee hearing, Republican lawmakers suggested returning to raids and questioned whether more people not legally working could be detained and deported.
ICE assistant secretary Kumar Kibble told the House critics that the audits could not be assessed in a vacuum and are part of a larger enforcement strategy that helped bring about the record deportation of nearly 393,000 people last year, he said.
Kibble said that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE performed 2,746 worksite investigations, more than double the 1,191 two years earlier. It arrested 196 employers and fined employers nearly $7 million. That compares to fines of $675,209 in 2008.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDzekxwkevCGVJxtpgLyuUgpjhcg?docId=e0730ceeb2ee40678cfcaa81c8e672ca
February 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is launching a new round of worksite investigations, maintaining the pressure on businesses to make sure they are hiring only people who can legally work in the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday it has notified 1,000 companies of upcoming audits of their I-9s, forms that new employees complete, and of the identification documents those employees provided to show they are eligible to work in the U.S.
"The inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation — no one industry is being targeted nor is any one industry immune from scrutiny," ICE said in a statement. The agency declined to name the businesses to be inspected.
The latest round of audits will differ slightly from previous ones. Agents previously were told to audit a certain number each of small, medium and large businesses, said Dawn Lurie, who advises businesses on immigration compliance.
But this time agents are being encouraged to investigate larger companies if that's where tips and leads are pointing them. A new Employment Compliance Inspection Center in the Washington suburb of Crystal City, Va., means they'll have more auditors and other resources for those larger investigations.
Audits are usually performed at the state in which a company is headquartered, but agents are being told they can audit other parts of the company if their records review shows there may be problems beyond the headquarters, Lurie said.
Lurie said the new focus for the audits is a sign that ICE is becoming more sophisticated in its worksite enforcement.
The Obama administration's worksite strategy differs from that of the Bush administration, which focused on high-profile raids that led to arrests of hundreds of workers at a single work site.
ICE still conducts raids, but they are smaller and less visible. The current administration also has been criticized for auditing mostly small businesses.
Lurie said she thinks the administration's audit tactic is having an effect.
"I do think businesses should be more frightened. Companies across the U.S. need to take compliance seriously. It's ridiculous to say you are not doing anything . we will wait until the federal government knocks at door," she said.
Companies can take small, inexpensive steps to help themselves, she said.
The administration has investigated records of such companies as Krispy Kreme and Abercrombie and Fitch. An immigration official has said such audits doubled in 2010 over 2008.
But critics say the administration's tactic isn't going far enough. At a recent House subcommittee hearing, Republican lawmakers suggested returning to raids and questioned whether more people not legally working could be detained and deported.
ICE assistant secretary Kumar Kibble told the House critics that the audits could not be assessed in a vacuum and are part of a larger enforcement strategy that helped bring about the record deportation of nearly 393,000 people last year, he said.
Kibble said that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE performed 2,746 worksite investigations, more than double the 1,191 two years earlier. It arrested 196 employers and fined employers nearly $7 million. That compares to fines of $675,209 in 2008.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDzekxwkevCGVJxtpgLyuUgpjhcg?docId=e0730ceeb2ee40678cfcaa81c8e672ca
Saturday, December 18, 2010
UPDATE: Durham brothers face human smuggling charges after raid
By Sarah Ovaska
The Progressive Pulse
December 16, 2010
Two brothers who run J&A Framers Carpentry Inc., a local home framing company, were indicted this week and charged with underpaying workers they hired by working with smugglers to bring the men to Durham.
The brothers, who are originally from Mexico but got their U.S. citizenships in the 1980s through marriages to American women, are accused of paying the 100 workers they used for their prospering construction business less than the minimum wage, even taking out money from paychecks to pay off coyotes, or smugglers, that brought the laborers from Mexico to U.S.
Last week, NC Policy Watch wrote about an immigration raid that resulted in the arrests of 18 J&A workers, eight of whom have since plead guilty to charges of evading immigration inspection at the border and are facing deportation proceedings . The coordinated arrests last month prompted some fears in Latino communities that immigration agents might be returning to the workplace raids seen more often under the Bush administration.
At that time, federal prosecutors and immigration officials had little to say about the Lopez-Ponce brothers.
But Tuesday’s indictments reveal that the Lopez-Ponce brothers were the larger targets for federal officials. The two men are facing felony charges of “conspiring to bring in and harbor illegal aliens,” “bringing an illegal alien into the U.S.” and “engaging in an pattern of practice of unlawful hiring and recruiting unauthorized aliens,” according to federal court documents.
The brothers are accused of taking in $2.3 million in business revenue from contractors from 2005 to 2010, but not taking out the proper payroll taxes of their employees . They’re also accused of withholding money from paychecks to pay off coyotes and taking out rent money for trailers that some of their workers lived in that the Lopez-Ponce brothers owned, according to the federal indictment.
The brothers are expected to be in front of a judge at 10 a.m. Monday for a hearing in the federal courthouse in downtown Raleigh.
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2010/12/16/update-durham-brothers-face-human-smuggling-charges-after-raid/
The Progressive Pulse
December 16, 2010
Two brothers who run J&A Framers Carpentry Inc., a local home framing company, were indicted this week and charged with underpaying workers they hired by working with smugglers to bring the men to Durham.
The brothers, who are originally from Mexico but got their U.S. citizenships in the 1980s through marriages to American women, are accused of paying the 100 workers they used for their prospering construction business less than the minimum wage, even taking out money from paychecks to pay off coyotes, or smugglers, that brought the laborers from Mexico to U.S.
Last week, NC Policy Watch wrote about an immigration raid that resulted in the arrests of 18 J&A workers, eight of whom have since plead guilty to charges of evading immigration inspection at the border and are facing deportation proceedings . The coordinated arrests last month prompted some fears in Latino communities that immigration agents might be returning to the workplace raids seen more often under the Bush administration.
At that time, federal prosecutors and immigration officials had little to say about the Lopez-Ponce brothers.
But Tuesday’s indictments reveal that the Lopez-Ponce brothers were the larger targets for federal officials. The two men are facing felony charges of “conspiring to bring in and harbor illegal aliens,” “bringing an illegal alien into the U.S.” and “engaging in an pattern of practice of unlawful hiring and recruiting unauthorized aliens,” according to federal court documents.
The brothers are accused of taking in $2.3 million in business revenue from contractors from 2005 to 2010, but not taking out the proper payroll taxes of their employees . They’re also accused of withholding money from paychecks to pay off coyotes and taking out rent money for trailers that some of their workers lived in that the Lopez-Ponce brothers owned, according to the federal indictment.
The brothers are expected to be in front of a judge at 10 a.m. Monday for a hearing in the federal courthouse in downtown Raleigh.
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2010/12/16/update-durham-brothers-face-human-smuggling-charges-after-raid/
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Uproar Over ‘Mass Firings’ At Minn. Chipotle Restaurants
CBS News, Minnesota
December 9, 2010
ICHFIELD (WCCO) – A Minnesota immigration rights group is protesting what it calls “mass firings” of Chipotle workers. According to the group, around 50 of the restaurant’s Latino workers have been fired in the last week.
The Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committeee (MIRAC), a local group that fights for the legalization of undocumented workers, says employees at local Chipotle stores came forward, saying they were fired over questions about their immigration status.
“We started to piece together there was something larger going on than a few people fired at one store,” said MIRAC member Brad Sigal. “It appears to be a statewide attack on immigrant worker who are longtime employees most of them been working there for years.”
Brad Sigal says his group confirmed that more than a dozen workers at the Chipotle store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul were let go, along with nearly dozen more at a Richfield Chipotle. He also heard from fired employees at locations in downtown Minneapolis (Skyway and Seven Corners), Golden Valley, Coon Rapids, Stillwater and Hudson, Wis.
Sigal says he suspects it’s the result of a federal immigration audit.
“It is an I-9 audit,” said Sigal. “They check the paperwork and fire anyone who can’t immediately prove they have the right to work. An action like this on a mass scale before the holidays is not consistent with the image they have cultivated.”
In a statement, Chipotle said, “We are fully cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota in connection with a document request they have made.”
ICE officials have not yet made a statement.
Customers leaving Grand Avenue Chipotle offered conflicting views.
“I happen to be someone who is struggling to look for a job and I believe in fair practice,” said Tasha Scott, a St. Paul resident. “If I am eligible to work, and I have all the status and things required by law, I should have a job here.”
“I am an ethical vegan, I care about animals and humans,” said Melissa Swanson, a St. Paul resident who says she hopes she learns the truth. “If it doesn’t fit my ethics, we won’t be coming back.”
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/uproar-over-mass-firings-at-minn-chipotle-restaurants/#
December 9, 2010
ICHFIELD (WCCO) – A Minnesota immigration rights group is protesting what it calls “mass firings” of Chipotle workers. According to the group, around 50 of the restaurant’s Latino workers have been fired in the last week.
The Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committeee (MIRAC), a local group that fights for the legalization of undocumented workers, says employees at local Chipotle stores came forward, saying they were fired over questions about their immigration status.
“We started to piece together there was something larger going on than a few people fired at one store,” said MIRAC member Brad Sigal. “It appears to be a statewide attack on immigrant worker who are longtime employees most of them been working there for years.”
Brad Sigal says his group confirmed that more than a dozen workers at the Chipotle store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul were let go, along with nearly dozen more at a Richfield Chipotle. He also heard from fired employees at locations in downtown Minneapolis (Skyway and Seven Corners), Golden Valley, Coon Rapids, Stillwater and Hudson, Wis.
Sigal says he suspects it’s the result of a federal immigration audit.
“It is an I-9 audit,” said Sigal. “They check the paperwork and fire anyone who can’t immediately prove they have the right to work. An action like this on a mass scale before the holidays is not consistent with the image they have cultivated.”
In a statement, Chipotle said, “We are fully cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota in connection with a document request they have made.”
ICE officials have not yet made a statement.
Customers leaving Grand Avenue Chipotle offered conflicting views.
“I happen to be someone who is struggling to look for a job and I believe in fair practice,” said Tasha Scott, a St. Paul resident. “If I am eligible to work, and I have all the status and things required by law, I should have a job here.”
“I am an ethical vegan, I care about animals and humans,” said Melissa Swanson, a St. Paul resident who says she hopes she learns the truth. “If it doesn’t fit my ethics, we won’t be coming back.”
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/uproar-over-mass-firings-at-minn-chipotle-restaurants/#
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