If you are talking about employers who knowingly hire illegals, those who help them get fake documents or pay them under the table – absolutely!
However there are employers who follow the rules of completing I-9 and use the E-Verify system that still get stung by unknowingly hiring an illegal with fake documents.
With the I9 all the new hire has to do is present either one document from list A or two documents one from list B and one from list C. As the employer I have to accept those documents “as long as they appear reasonably genuine on their face and relate to the employee”. In other words, I’m not a forensic document specialist. As long as the document “reasonably appears” to be genuine, I have to accept it and cannot legally ask for additional forms of identification even if I suspect the person is here illegally. In fact there are all sorts of penalties if I do, the employer could also be sued by the Government for discrimination. And with E-Verify, if it comes back with a “tentative non-confirmation”, i.e. that the person’s name and the document(s) presented on their I9 do not match in the DHS and INS databases, I have to keep them employed while they contest, if they choose to do so.
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/htm/I9_Verification.php
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/pdf/publications/e-verifydosanddonts3.pdf
“I have to keep them employed while they contest, if they choose to do so.”
That’s nuts! And by the time you get to those forms I suppose you have already given them the job. I wonder if those forms could be part of the application process, so if they look fishy you dump the application in the garbage along with all the ones that don’t meet your qualifications?
I use part-time helpers in my work - but they are all college or recent graduates in environmental type studies - so not the typical stomping grounds of illegals. Still though - I go through the paperwork checks.