Free Republic

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is prepared to criminally prosecute illegal immigrants in the workplace, as well as those employers who hire them."While we focus on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers, under the current administration's enforcement priorities, workers encountered during these investigations who are unauthorized to remain in the United States are also subject to administrative arrest and removal from the country," ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said in an email to the Washington Examiner.This week, acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said his agency will increase workplace immigration enforcement effort four to five times the level...

The tree-trimming company Asplundh Tree Expert has been hit with a $95 million fine for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and for bringing on some under different names who used documents it knew were fraudulent. It is the largest fine ever in an immigration case in the U.S. Asplundh pleaded guilty to criminal charges in federal court in Pennsylvania, where it is headquartered, admitting that its managers restructured the company's hiring specifically to evade normal human resources processes and hire illegal aliens, many by word-of-mouth, while giving top-level managers deniability. The $95 million fine includes forfeiture of up to $80 million...

A Pennsylvania-based company has agreed to pay $95 million in criminal fines for illegally employing undocumented immigrants. The judgment is the largest of its kind in U.S. history, federal prosecutors said. Asplundh Tree Expert, based in Willow Grove and described by federal officials as one of the largest privately-held companies in the country, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia, agreeing to an $80 million criminal forfeiture money judgment and a $15 million civil payment. The scheme to unlawfully employ undocumented immigrants was perpetrated throughout the ranks of Asplundh from 2010 to December 2014, according to a statement from...

Willow Grove-based Asplundh Tree Expert Co. is huge, privately owned corporation with more than 36,000 employees and estimated annual sales of $3.5 billion, according to Forbes, which counts it as one of America’s largest private companies. But now, Asplundh finds itself the recipient of some very unwelcome attention thanks to charges just filed in federal court. An Asplundh vice president, Larry Gauger, 45, of Wayne, has been charged with visa fraud and conspiracy relating to his work at the company. Two other Asplundh managers have been charged as well, according to the Department of Justice, but their names have yet...