How many employers were held accountable in 2005?
How about 2004?
Please find me a link ... please
From Fiscal Year 2004 to Fiscal Year 2005, the number of ICE worksite enforcement criminal investigations increased from 465 to 511.They've actually been concentrating on worksites critical to security, but there are numerous other worksite cases cited there. The only fines I can find is that Walmart paid 11 million and their contractors paid 4 million and they are seeking 11 million in another case involving restaurants, but they have also seized property and bank accounts of others.
Arrests have increased, as the recent roundup of 1,187 surpassed the 2005 total of 1,125 worksite arrests.
The reason for the decrease in fines is that ICE has shifted worksite enforcement tactics from levying fines to issuing criminal charges and penalties, including the seizure of assets, per the Washington Post:
Serious criminal charges once typically reserved for drug traffickers and organized-crime figures are increasingly being used to target businesses that employ illegal immigrants, a strategy highlighted last week when three Maryland restaurateurs pleaded guilty to federal offenses and agreed to forfeit more than $1 million in cash and property.Personally, I think that is a good thing...companies like Walmart have deep pockets, so 11 million is a drop in the bucket to them. Start filing criminal charges and this crap will stop.The little-publicized approach, which can include charging such employers with money laundering and seizing their assets, amounts to a strategic shift in the enforcement of immigration law in the workplace.
As a result, investigations into the employment of illegal immigrants, known as worksite enforcement, resulted in 127 criminal convictions in 2005 nationwide, up from 46 the previous year, according to figures from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
A single criminal investigation last year resulted in settlements and forfeitures of $15 million, an amount that surpassed the sum of administrative fines -- the traditional tool of workplace enforcement -- from the previous eight years.
In conclusion, another article states that they have asked for a FY2006 budget increase for workplace enforcement. Let's hope it gets passed.