DHS announces new worksite enforcement strategy
On April 30, 2009, as the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security was scheduled to meet to discuss comprehensive immigration reform, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a refocused worksite enforcement strategy aimed at targeting employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.
"Secretary Napolitano issued new field guidance to law enforcement agents at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement," DHS's largest enforcement arm, confirmed an official for DHS in an April 30 statement. "These guidelines reflect a new Department-wide focus to target, through criminal prosecution, abusive employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking our country's laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers," because "the prospect for employment in the United States continues to be one of the leading causes of illegal immigration." At the same time, ICE will continue to arrest and process for removal any illegal workers who are found in the course of these worksite enforcement actions.
ICE will use all available civil and administrative tools, including civil fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment, said the DHS official, confirming that ICE agents will continue to be held to high investigative standards including: (1) ICE looking for evidence of worker mistreatment, along with evidence of trafficking, smuggling, harboring, visa fraud, identification, document fraud, money laundering and other criminal conduct; and (2) ICE offices obtaining indictments, criminal arrest or search warrants or a commitment from a US Attorney's Office to prosecute the targeted employer before arresting employees for civil immigration violations at a worksite. In addition, confirmed the DHS official, existing humanitarian guidelines will remain in effect, impacting worksite enforcement operations involving 25 or more undocumented workers, which reflects a change from the previous threshold of 150.
Reprinted with permission. © CCH
<p>DHS announces new worksite enforcement strategy On April 30, 2009, as the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security was scheduled to meet to discuss comprehensive immigration reform, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a refocused worksite</p>