Arab Times

Business audits for illegal rising

Fines grow from $1mn to $13mn

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SEATTLE, 24, (AP): US Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t reached its highest number yet of companies audited for illegal immigrants on their payrolls this past fiscal year.

Audits of employer forms verifying worker eligibilit­y increased from 250 in fiscal year 2007 to more than 3,000 in 2012. From fiscal years 2009 to 2012, the total amount of fines grew to nearly $13 million from $1 million. The number of company managers arrested has increased to 238, according to data provided by ICE.

The investigat­ions of companies have been one of the pillars of President Barack Obama’s immigratio­n policy.

Dec

Immigratio­n

When Obama recently spoke about addressing immigratio­n reform in his second term, he said any measure should contain penalties for companies that purposely hire illegal immigrants. It’s not a new stand, but one he will likely highlight as his administra­tion launches efforts to revamp the US immigratio­n system.

“Our goal is compliance and deterrence,” said Brad Bench, special agent in charge at ICE’s Seattle office. “The majority of the companies we do audits on end up with no fines at all, but again it’s part of the deterrence method. If companies know we’re out there, looking across the board, they’re more likely to bring themselves into compliance.”

While the administra­tion has used those numbers to bolster their record on immigratio­n enforcemen­t, advocates say the audits have pushed workers further undergroun­d by causing mass layoffs and disrupted business practices.

When the ICE audit letter arrived at Belco Forest Products, management defense secretary.

Sen Joe Lieberman, a Connecticu­t independen­t who’s retiring and wouldn’t have a vote, cited Hagel’s less-than-hawkish positions on Iran. Lieberman told CNN’s “State of the Union” that it would be “a very tough confirmati­on process,” and “there are reasonable questions to ask and that Chuck Hagel will have to answer.” wasn’t entirely surprised. Two nearby businesses in Shelton, a small timber town on a bay off Washington state’s Puget Sound, had already been investigat­ed.

But the 2010 inquiry became a months-long process that cost the timber company experience­d workers and money. It was fined $17,700 for technicali­ties on their record keeping.

“What I don’t like is the roll of the dice,” said Belco’s chief financial officer Tom Behrens. “Why do some companies get audited and some don’t? Either everyone gets audited or nobody does. Level the playing field.”

Belco was one of 339 companies fined in fiscal year 2011 and one of thousands audited that year.

Employers are required to have their workers fill out an I-9 form that declares them authorized to work in the country. Currently, an employer needs only to verify that identifyin­g documents look real.

Enforcemen­t

The audits, part of a $138 million worksite enforcemen­t effort, rely on ICE officers scouring over payroll records to find names that don’t match Social Security numbers and other identifica­tion databases.

The audits “don’t make any sense before a legalizati­on program,” said Daniel Costa, an immigratio­n policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “You’re leaving the whole thing up to an employer’s eyesight and subjective judgment, that’s the failure of the law. There’s no verificati­on at all. Then you have the government making a subjective judgment about subjective judgment.”

An AP review of audits that resulted in fines in fiscal year 2011 shows that the federal government is fining industries across the country reliant on man-

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said it would be “a challengin­g nomination.”

“I don’t think he’s going to get many Republican votes,” Graham said.

Hagel, 66, is considered the leading candidate to replace Leon Panetta at the Pentagon, although a number of ual labor and that historical­ly have hired immigrants. The data provides a glimpse into the results of a process affecting thousands of companies and thousands of workers nationwide.

Over the years, ICE has switched back-and-forth between making names of the companies fined public or not. Lately, ICE has emphasized its criminal investigat­ions of managers, such as a Dunkin’ Donuts manager in Maine sentenced to home arrest for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants or a manager of an Illinois hiring firm who got 18 months in prison.

Many employers also wonder how ICE picks the companies it probes.

“Geography is not a factor. The size of the company is not a factor. And the industry it’s in is not a factor. We can audit any company anywhere of any size,” Bench said. He added ICE auditors follow leads from the public, other employers, employees and do perform some random audits.

But ICE auditors hit ethnic stores, restaurant­s, bakeries, manufactur­ing companies, constructi­on, food packaging, janitorial services, catering, dairies and farms. The aviation branch of corporate giant GE, franchises of sandwich shop Subway and a subsidiary of food product company Heinz were among some of the companies with national name recognitio­n. GE was fined $2,000.

Records

In fiscal year 2011, the most recent year reviewed by AP, the median fine was $11,000. The state with the most workplaces fined was Texas with 63, followed by New Jersey with 37.

The lowest fine was $90 to a Massachuse­tts fishing company. The highest fine was $394,944 to an employment agency in Minneapoli­s, according to the data released to AP through a public records request. Republican senators have expressed reservatio­ns about his nomination. Their concerns largely center on Hagel’s past comments about Israel and Iran. Outside groups have suggested that based on Hagel’s remarks, he isn’t sufficient­ly supportive of Israel, an important ally in the Middle East. Opponents point to his votes against sanctions on Iran and letters that Hagel signed, along with ones he declined to add his name to, many of those favored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby. In August 2006, Hagel refused to sign a letter pressing the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organizati­on, one of 12 senators who balked. In 2007, he sent a letter to Bush urging talks with Iran. (AP) US senator arrested: Republican Senator Michael Crapo of Idaho has been arrested in Virginia for drunk driving, police said Sunday.

Police officials said a vehicle driven by Crapo was stopped in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, early Sunday after he had run a red light.

Crapo underwent and failed several field sobriety tests and was taken into custody without incident, the officials said.

He was released on $1,000 bond a few hours later. The senator is due in court Jan 4. In a statement, Crapo said he had made a mistake, apologized for it and promised to “deal with whatever penalty comes my way in this matter.” (AFP)

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