ICE Searching For Employers Of Illegal Workers

The Washington Times reported that the Obama administration is targeting U.S. businesses nationwide, requiring companies to make available employment records for review by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“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. ICE declined to name the businesses to be inspected. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said ICE would use all available civil and administrative tools, including civil fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment.

Nearly 3,600 U.S. companies have been audited since the program began, with more than $50 million in fines having been collected. In 2008, 6,000 arrests were made during work-site enforcement actions; just 135 of them were of employers. Civil fines for paperwork violations range from $100 to $1,100 for each violation, and fines for substantive violations, employing an unauthorized worker, range from $375 to $16,000. ◆