UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS COST MORE
March 19, 2008
It's going to be more expensive for American companies to violate federal immigration-related employment laws.
"We are increasing civil fines imposed on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by 25 percent, the maximum allowed by law and the first such increase since 1999," said US Attorney General Michael Mukasey. "We are also working with the Department of Homeland Security to increase criminal prosecutions against the most egregious employer offenders."
According to the Federal Register announcement, the new fines for knowingly hiring an undocumented worker (or discriminating against a legal worker) will range from $375 to $3,200 (up from $275 to $2,200), with a maximum of $16,000 (up from $11,000) for repeat violations.
However, the federal fines for I-9 form paperwork violations ($110 to $1,100) will remain unchanged, since they didn't qualify for an inflation adjustment.
The revised fines take effect March 27, 2008.
"What is the economic magnet that is bringing people into the country to work illegally? The answer is jobs," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Therefore, work site enforcement and interior enforcement are critical elements of a strategy to deal with this issue of illegal migration."
Employer representative J Allen Carnes of the Texas Vegetable Association criticized the penalties. "You are talking about a workforce that has infiltrated our society because of a failed immigration system," Carnes told the Dallas Morning News. "Now you want to make the employers the police, and we are going to be the fall guy for something our government didn't solve for a long time." |
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