The Wall Street Journal reports that DHS will “intensify” its enforcement efforts against employers around the US:
John Morton, the new chief of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said that the agency is set to increase the number of companies it will audit and systematically impose fines on violators. Violations could also lead to criminal charges, he said.
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“You are going to see audits regularly and on a larger scale,” Mr. Morton said during a two-day visit to southern California, his first since being appointed four months ago. “You will see the resuscitation of…civil fines.”
My buddy Tom Roach, an immigration lawyer in Pasco, Washington, is worried about the impact on agricultural employers in his area:
Tom Roach, an immigration attorney in Pasco, Wash., said that apple, cherry and grape growers in his area are panicking over the new crackdown.
Few industries have come so close to admitting they cannot survive without the labor of illegal immigrants as agriculture. At least half of the 1.8 million crop workers in the U.S. are undocumented.
Mr. Roach said a client who received a notification of inspection from ICE last month could face thousands of dollars in fines. “There is a ton of counterfeit documents out there. The employer does exactly what he is supposed to do, but he can still get in trouble,” he said.