Immigration Officials to Audit 1,000 More Companies

[babylonsister]

Penalizing employers instead of employees-what a concept!

Immigration Officials to Audit 1,000 More Companies

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: November 19, 2009


WASHINGTON — Immigration enforcement officials said Thursday that they were expanding a program for auditing companies that might have hired illegal immigrants and had notified 1,000 companies this week that they would have to undergo such a review.

John Morton, who heads Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, announced the new initiative, saying it was part of the administration’s plan to deal with companies that hire illegal workers. “ICE is focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead by cultivating illegal workplaces,” Mr. Morton said.

He said that because the program was a law enforcement operation, he would not identify the companies that would undergo an audit except to say that they had been selected as a result of investigative leads and their connection to public safety and national security.

The language suggests the audits will affect private companies involved in infrastructure operations like gas and electric utilities and contractors on military bases but not retailers and manufacturers of nonessential goods.

The announcement of the action appears to be part of a two-pronged strategy by Homeland Security officials to crack down on companies that regularly rely on illegal workers while simultaneously trying to reward companies that are diligent in checking the documentation of prospective workers.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20immig.html?ref=politics

[havocmom]

1. After reports on subcontractors repairing bases after Katrina

using, and abusing, undocumented workers, this seems like a wise place to start cleaning up the illegal employERS.