🚀 go-pugleaf

"Graphic Queen" <xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.com> wrote in message
news:jdevg1l0g7lkqbeh4v3n93spicc1dkbsph@4ax.com...
> Illegal Immigrants Work In Carolinas, No Penalties To Employers
>
> POSTED: 9:22 am EDT August 26, 2005
> UPDATED: 9:22 am EDT August 26, 2005
>
> CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- More than half the 330,000 illegal immigrants in
> North and South Carolina are employed _ and no employer has been
> fined, even though it's against the law to knowingly hire an
> undocumented alien, The Charlotte Observer reported Friday.
>
> Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say they
> concentrate on egregious violators and employers who pose a high
> security risk, such as airports and chemical plants.
>
> But no employer in the Carolinas has been fined in at least two years,
> the newspaper reported. Nationwide, only three "notices of intent" to
> fine employers were filed in 2004, even though an estimated 7 million
> illegal aliens have regular jobs.
>
> "Let's see, do we go check out the nuclear power plant or do we go
> check out the fast-food restaurant down the street?" ICE spokesman Tim
> Counts said. "We don't use employer fines as a measure of success."
>
> Last week, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., called for raising fines from
> $250 to $10,000 per illegal worker, and giving some of the money to
> local law agencies as an incentive to help ICE.
>
> "They've absolutely failed in their mission to fine businesses,"
> Myrick's chief of staff, Hal Weatherman, said.
>
> No employer sanctions have yet been announced in last week's arrests
> of 40 undocumented immigrants who worked for contractors at the Camp
> Lejeune Marine base, or in last month's detainment of 48 illegal
> immigrants employed by contractors at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base
> in Goldsboro.
>
> Employers say they feel trapped between federal laws that require them
> to verify a worker's identity and legal status, and the risk that
> inappropriate questions about nationality could provoke a
> discrimination complaint.
>
> "We are in very much of a Catch-22," according to Allen Gray, a human
> resource officer with Carolinas Associated General Contractors.
> "Federal regulations say you have to accept certain types of ID. No
> one wants to hire an illegal alien."
>
> The Charlotte-based organization represents more than 3,000
> contractors in both states.
>
> Its president, Stephen Gennett, said too much of a burden is placed on
> employers who lack expertise to identify illegal workers.
>
> "The fallacy is the assumption that we know they're illegal," Gennett
> said. "(An employer) can't tell when he's been given forged documents.
> As far as we're concerned, he's put his best effort forth to make sure
> the man or the woman is properly in this country."
>
> That difficulty is one reason why ICE no longer emphasizes fines,
> Counts said, even as the agency continues to target work sites.
>
> He said ongoing investigations in South Carolina could result in fines
> or criminal charges against employers.
>
> But the number of agents investigating illegal workers has fallen.
> Immigration officials devoted 9 percent of their staff to work site
> enforcement in 1999, but only 4 percent in 2003, according to
> testimony before Congress.
>
> James Andrews, president of the N.C. AFL-CIO, says he's more concerned
> about worker safety than employer sanctions.
>
> "I've been focused on making the workplace safe for all workers,
> whether they're legal or illegal," he says, "because they're here."
>
> ___
>
> Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com
>
A whore government refuses to enforce our laws. Yet they send some chump to
jail for years for selling reefer!

Hank