Small businesses brace for state's immigration audits

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: The Island Packet & The Beaufort Gazette


The state is about to step up its efforts to purge South Carolina's workforce of illegal immigrants by scouring the files of small businesses for evidence of undocumented workers.

On July 1, state officials will begin auditing 110,000 companies with fewer than 100 employees to make sure they are complying with the state's Illegal Immigration Reform Act, which lawmakers passed in 2008 to remove illegal immigrants from the workplace.

The initial push will focus on industries that tend to employ foreign workers, such as landscaping companies, farms, restaurants, hotels, construction firms and golf courses. But other businesses will be under the microscope as well, state officials said.

The state has been auditing larger companies since last summer, and the vast majority -- 94 percent -- were found to be complying with the law, said Jim Knight, communications director for the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Knight doesn't expect those high numbers to last when officials begin scrutinizing smaller employers, who often lack personnel departments and company lawyers to help them keep track of the changing regulatory landscape. "There may be some confusion," he said. "We definitely don't expect a 94 percent compliance rate."





Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/05/10/1235678/state-audits-small-businesses.html

[SoapBox]

1. Wow! The Police State ramps up....

Man...The Police State is taking over.

I do have a couple of questions...so what about the great, big, mega corporations? Or do they
not have any? And, if they find anyone of any ethnic background, other than latino, are they
going to run them off and tell what color they were?

Going after the small businesses...those that are the "low hanging" fruit...AND, the ones
that can least afford to be overrun by the Goose Steppers.

This racist crap has gone over the top.

[amandabeech]

12. The article says that they have been auditing the larger employers,

and have had 89 violations (some of them technical) out of 1,500 companies.

There is no information on the diversity of the undocumented workers.

Businesses are required to accept as ID either a S. C. driver's license, which requires proof of citizenship or legal residency, a driver's license from one of the 26 states reported as having driver's license requirements at least as strict as South Carolina's, or the company must use E-verify, the voluntary federal system. I don't know how much E-verify costs, if anything.

Personally, I'm not surprised that S.C. is doing this. As you pointed out, their history is not exactly nice. The other issue they have down there is very high unemployment. The textile industry used to be a huge employer there until the China trade deal. The textile industry moved to China. No surprise there.

[movonne]

15. Is this what we want...coroporation and business to stop hiring

illegals...

[Egnever]

16. ????

This is what should be going on. This is long overdue. Harassing people the way Arizona is doing is racist crap. Forcing businesses to quit exploiting undocumented workers is not racist.

The businesses that get away with hiring illegals drive down wages and force legitimate businesses to close down. Its long past time for
this sort of action.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. interesting that he has already made his mind up about the results - without knowing the facts

Nice to go into a place of judging something with the verdict planted squarely in your head already. Sounds 110% fair to me

[BadGimp]

3. Hey Arizona!

heads up - this way works if you really want to get all the illegal brown people out of their jobs..

but if you intention is to scare all brown people away for the polls then you are already on the right path imo

[burning rain]

4. Bit surprising for South Carolina.

It's a Tory state where business interests normally get to have everything their own way (and they love cheap labor), and at the same time, there's not much specific anti-Hispanic animus (conservatives there tend to be content with kicking blacks, and lower-income folks generally). I might think those factors would militate against such a crackdown, but I guess not. Weird.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. Arizona won't allow county attorneys to subpoena employers' records.

So the cops can hassle the workers, but the employers get off scot free.

[ultracase24]

6. notice how they will go after 100 and fewer employee business

why not larger businesses? This is about and has always been about cheap labor, and when it comes down to racist teabaggers and the COC business lobby, the COC will win out. This is an effort to put the fear into Hispanics so that they can be more easily exploited in the workplace and continued to be paid less. The race to the bottom continues

[Tempest]

11. Read the article

They audited the large companies first.

[Abq_Sarah]

17. Small businesses

Can slide under the radar easier than a large business.

Additionally, nailing the Big-bad corporation with 30 illegal workers is sexier than busting a dozen small companies with 70 illegal workers. You get better headlines with the first.

[pampango]

7. Good they went after the larger companies first. Wonder what happened to the 6% of those

that weren't in compliance.

The Obama administration is auditing employers, as well, "(f)ocusing on large employer audits and investigations rather than individual, home, street and factory raids condoned by the Bush administration."

"In the last eight months, there have been thousands of audits of U.S. companies—some random, some aimed at certain industries and some for cause—aimed at garnering evidence regarding problems with the work authorization and/or immigration status of employees."

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=efe39ec4-163f-4817-813a-2eab40928d72

[rucky]

8. How they do it will be telling...

are they going to round up the brown employees, or nail the business owners?

[amandabeech]

13. The article states that businesses will and have been fined.

ICE will be notified of the violations as well.

[Vinca]

9. If only the small businesses could afford to buy people off like big business does.

[peace13]

10. Bingo!

That is all I can say.

[amandabeech]

14. Not all big businesses have managed the payoff.

Several have been fined.