Besides blowing off congress to give illegal immigrants backdoor
amnesty, the Obama administration is also letting businesses that hire
undocumented workers off the hook by drastically reducing fines and
enforcement, a new federal audit reveals.
It was only a year ago that the president vowed to come down hard those who hire illegal aliens as a fundamental part of creating an immigration system for the 21st
century: “It means cracking down more forcefully on businesses that
knowingly hire undocumented workers…most businesses want to do the right
thing… So we need to implement a national system that allows businesses
to quickly and accurately verify someone’s employment status. And if
they still knowingly hire undocumented workers, then we need to ramp up
the penalties,” Obama said in 2013.
The reality appears to be much different, though this particular
audit, conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector
General, considers a three-year period right before the president’s
statement. He was already in the White House, however. From 2009 to
2012, the administration slashed by 40% the amount of fines collected
from employers caught with illegal aliens on the their payroll. This
represents a chunk of change for the government—from $52.7 million to
$31.2 million—but, more importantly, it sends a dangerous message to
businesses that profit from the cheap labor provided by those living in
the country illegally.
The DHS Inspector General states it quite clearly in a recently issued report:
“Homeland Security Investigations’ inconsistent implementation of the
administrative inspection process, plus the reduction of fines, may have
hindered its mission to prevent or deter employers from violating
immigration laws.” The DHS watchdog estimates that approximately 8
million illegal immigrants are in the U.S. workforce and many present
fraudulent identity-related documents or use another person’s identity
to gain employment.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is charged with cracking
down on businesses that hire illegal aliens. During the three-year
period analyzed in the probe, ICE got $531 million from congress to
fulfill this “worksite enforcement” mission. Instead, the agency
selectively enforces the employment law in different regions with some
field offices doling out a lot more warnings and far less fines than
others.
Making matters worse the umbrella agency, DHS, doesn’t provide
sufficient oversight to ensure that its field offices are conducting
worksite enforcement inspections consistently, according to the agency
watchdog. For instance, investigators reveal that two field offices
simply developed and implemented their own system by issuing more
warnings than fines, contrary to established ICE guidelines. DHS took no
action, the report says, pointing out that “without adequate oversight
and monitoring” the agency can’t possibly determine if worksite
enforcement is effective in preventing and deterring employers from
violating immigration laws.
As an example, the inspector general offers ICE’s Los Angeles field
office which has flouted federal policy by creating its own private
system of worksite enforcement. During the three-year period considered
by the watchdog the office conducted 147 investigations, with 7%
resulting in fines and 55% in warnings. Even in instances where more
than half of a business’s federal employee verification forms (known as
I-9) had “substantive errors” the federal agents in L.A. only issued
warnings instead of fines. One business mentioned in the report had its
fine slashed an astounding 78%, from $4.9 million to a little over $1
million.
This certainly proves that the Obama administration lied to the
American people in 2009 when it announced that DHS would focus on
employers who hire unauthorized workers rather than large-scale
enforcement actions that almost exclusively targeted illegal aliens
under the George W. Bush administration.
(Click link below to read more)
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