ICE Worksite Enforcement Operations Continue

In May, ICE continued its worksite enforcement operations throughout the United States as well as its efforts to locate and remove illegal aliens. These operations are part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) which seeks to secure America’s borders and reduce illegal migration. As GT has continued to report, under the direction of Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, ICE has significantly increased the volume and scope of their worksite enforcement operations in the past few months. ICE agents have stated that they are focused on all industries where employers knowingly hire undocumented aliens and seek to penalize both employers and undocumented aliens alike. Federal law imposes heavy financial penalties, and in some cases criminal prosecution on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

On May 26, 2006 agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in conjunction with the FBI and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office arrested twenty-five illegal aliens employed as contractors by Lucite International and Arkema Chemical Plants in Tennessee. The apprehended aliens had gained employment by using fraudulent documentation and by falsifying information as to employment eligibility to their employers.

The ICE investigation is part of an on-going post 9/11 worksite enforcement initiative focused on businesses with security sensitive sites such as airports, defense installations, bio-agricultural industries, shipyards and chemical plants. ICE stated that an important goal of the Tennessee investigations was to enhance public/ private partnerships to protect U.S. businesses against possible security breaches.

Michael A. Holt special agent in charge for ICE in New Orleans stated that “Protecting the integrity of the chemical industry in Tennessee is a crucial part of ICE’s interior enforcement strategy. When an individual uses fraudulent or false documents to get a job, they hide their identity and possible criminal history.”

In Kansas, On May 30, 2006 ICE agents arrested five undocumented workers from Mexico at a Cessna aircraft manufacturing plant in Wichita on immigration violations. In that case, the agents had been contacted by Cessna management regarding a possible discrepancy in the documents the aliens had presented upon hiring as proof of their employment eligibility. Based on this information ICE agents conducted a computer records check of the documents and determined that they were in fact fraudulent and that the employees were undocumented and not authorized to work in the United States.

Peter Baird, assistant special agent in charge in Kansas City stated that “Cessna management followed proper procedures. It is illegal for employers to knowingly hire or continue to employ illegal aliens. Employers can also be subject to criminal prosecution.”

Other ICE recent worksite enforcement operations have led to:

• May 12, 2006, Jose Neto , owner of Boston Cleaning Business, was convicted of knowingly harboring illegal aliens who worked in his cleaning business. Neto had previously pled guilty attempting to bribe an ICE agent, inducing illegal aliens to reside in the country and having a patter or practice of knowingly employing undocumented workers. Neto can be sentenced with up to fifteen years in jail, five years of supervisory release and a $250,000 fine.

• May 11, 2006, the owner of Dragon Buffet Restaurants, pled guilty to one count of hiring and harboring illegal aliens at this restaurants in Albany, New York. The investigation was part of a larger ICE operations concerning Kun Cheung, who owned six Chinese buffet restaurants in the Albany, New York area. That investigation resulted in the arrest of Cheung, the criminal arrest of nine people, the administrative arrest of eight-four illegal aliens and the seizure of approximately $1.4 million in assets.

• The owner of the Golden China Buffet in Louisville, KY was arrested on May 10, 2006 along with eight of his undocumented workers.

• On May 10, 2006, ICE agents in Missouri arrested the owner Julio’s Mexican Restaurants with two locations in Missouri and Iowa for knowingly hiring illegal aliens, a criminal charge. ICE agents determined that the employees had not been asked to complete Form I-9 or provide any documentation verifying their employment eligibility. ICE agents also arrested twenty-one illegal aliens during the worksite enforcement operation.

• On May 9, 2006, ICE agents arrested four supervisors of Fischer homes as well as seventy-six illegal aliens working at their construction sites in Kentucky. The supervisors face criminal charges for aiding and abetting, harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage or private gain and face up to ten years imprisonment and fines up to $250,000.

• Two managers of Midwest Airport were sentenced on May 9, 2006 as a result of ICE Operation Tarmac, an ICE plan that targets unauthorized employment at U.S. airports. Both individuals received federal prison sentences and both were subject to financial penalties. Midwest Airport Service and Service Performance Corporation were also subject to heavy financial penalties.

• On May 2, 2006, the owner of Stucco Design in Indiana was arrested on charges of money laundering, harboring and transporting illegal aliens and making false statements in connection with an illegal employment scheme. If convicted the owner can face up to forty years in prison and the forfeiture of $1.4 million.

• April 19, 2006, after a year long investigation of reports of illegal hiring, ICE agents performed the largest worksite enforcement operation in the United States. Seven managers and 1,187 illegal aliens working at IFCO, the largest pallet manufacturer in the U.S., were arrested. The managers each face the possibility of serving jail time and are subject to financial penalties.

For more information on ICE, worksite enforcement operations, employer compliance and enforcement please visit the Immigration Compliance and Enforcement section of our website.