Posted on 06/06/2005 10:59:43 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
Monday, June 06, 2005
Citizens Target Illegal Workers
By Ted Carter
TBR Staff
A backlash against Lowcountry businesses that hire illegal immigrants may soon involve the grassroots organization whose members have been patrolling a 23-mile stretch of the Mexico-Arizona border to report illegal crossings.
A coalition of citizen groups met in Greenville over the Memorial Day weekend to discuss how they can help the federal government staunch the flow of illegal aliens into South Carolina. Mostly, they focused on ways to identify and seek prosecution of the businesses that hire undocumented workers, said Ebba Gamer, president of Citizens for a Better Community, a group formed to put a spotlight on illegal workers on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton.
The exact approach the coalition effort will take has not been decided, said Gamer, a retiree who transplanted to Hilton Head from California. For the time being, she said, her group is fanning out across southern Beaufort County to gather automobile tag numbers of business-owned vehicles they suspect are occupied by illegal workers. They are also scouring business licenses and gathering other information on companies they think are violating federal illegal immigration laws. Many of the violators are roofing, painting, construction and landscaping outfits, Gamer noted.
"We're doing surveillance," she said, "I have eyes and ears out there. I have a list like you wouldn't believe."
She said a pair of immigration lawyers in the group is providing advice on the legality of tactics and the value of information gathered.
Good legal advice is critical to the success of the effort, said Jim Gilchrist, a retired Southern California CPA who founded the "Minuteman Project" seven months ago. It's important to have a lawyer "to make sure the data is legally acquired," Gilchrist said.
Since the Oct. 1 launch of the Minuteman Project, "this thing exploded," Gilchrist said.
He said he's had a few e-mails and phone conversations with Citizens for a Better Community and other anti-illegal immigration organizations in the Palmetto State. Getting groups such as Gamer's to join the Minuteman Project as information gatherers and advocates for stepped-up law enforcement is a natural extension of the campaign whose roots are into desert between the border Mexico and Arizona, Gilchrist said.
"Now we've got to move into supporting the Bureau of Immigration and Customs' enforcement," he said, noting the assistance will be mainly in the form of serving as informants.
The goal, he said, is to help "bring the country under the rule of law."
Gilchrist blames the multi-national corporations for much of the nation's illegal immigration problem but emphasizes he is equally eager to go after any businesses that put undocumented workers on their payrolls. "If you want to stay out of my way, you want to make sure all of your workers are legal and that you're paying workman's compensation."
He said that while the federal government has been lax on illegal immigration to the point of putting the nation's sovereignty at risk, there is one department of the government that won't need much coaxing to accept the assistance of the Minuteman volunteers: the Internal Revenue Service.
"The IRS is deadly" and more than happy to pay a bounty for help catching businesses that hire illegal workers as a way to avoid paying taxes.
As an example, Gilchrist noted that $10,000 would go to someone who helps the IRS nab a construction contractor who has escaped paying $100,000 in taxes. The liens, fines and property seizures won't go unnoticed, he said. "They'll say, 'Boy, I better not continue what I was doing.'"
ping
(Them dangburn infernal internal rebenue critters could just turn out to be our cuzins.)
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"The IRS is deadly" and more than happy to pay a bounty for help catching businesses that hire illegal workers as a way to avoid paying taxes.
FANTASTIC!
I did not know this. That's interesting.
WHOA!!!
You mean, I can collect a bounty for turning in employers of illegals?
Well, what the heck are we waiting for? Gravy train, here I come!!!
We need to report ag companies also.
We are taking estimates on a home addition, one of my demands are that only American or legal residents are used for the work.
Gilchrist noted that $10,000 would go to someone who helps the IRS nab a construction contractor who has escaped paying $100,000 in taxes.
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It is estimated that over $420 BILLION DOLLARS of tax revenue was lost just last year to unreported illegal alien labor.
That would build a lot of roads. In one year alone it would be enough to completely eliminate any illegal aliens from breaching our (now) wide-open border.
Does this mean I can quit my 40 hour a week job and become a bounty hunter for the IRS??
Flip side, though....every year companies withhold taxes on employees with bogus SSNs. Those withholdings go into the ESF (Earnings Suspense File), and are never allocated to a worker's account.
That in effect becomes free money for the Gubmint. I wonder how much it amounts to?
And then I wonder, is that one of the reasons nobody is pushing to crackdown on the illegal use of SSNs?
The Rick Roberts talk show in San Diego has been engaging in their own effort along these lines. They've been encouraging their listeners to go to Home Depots and videotape the license plates and identifying markings of business vehicles picking people (presumably illegal aliens up. It's having an effect. They caught Pardee Homes, a big builder of residential housing, doing this and embarrassed them. They're not picking up illegals any more, at least not at Home Depot.
From where I sit, I suspect the IRS would pull a RICO and grab everything worth selling then give the offender a hearing date which he would never appear for.
Jose Espanola becomes Arturo Hernandez and goes back to work without missing a beat thanks to his new bank loans.
For the ping list
For them to overlook this gargantuan goldmine of lost revenue would not sit well with the rest of the taxpayers (especially those who the IRS constantly hounds for more money).
It's a BACKLASH. A good one.
Mexifornia would be a veritable gold mine for locating businesses who hire illegal aliens. These people have the right idea!
Well, part of the split between Jim Gilchrist and Chris Simcox was the matter of focus...Chris is going to focus on border security and Jim is going to focus on employer sanctions.
Since Jim is based in California, I would expect to start seeing things like this happening there soon.
I hope so, HJ. California = press one for English. Spanish is the language of employees of almost every business in the L.A. area. The small American businessman is getting shafted.
This is awesome! Inspite of being a government agency, the IRS seems to be quite efficient. They've managed to nab some organized crime bosses that couldn't be gotten any other way. So let's put them on the trail on of businesses hiring illegals! This will take a lot of organization, but I have faith that Jim Gilchrist can set this in motion.
I sure hope we can get them off the stump! It's worth a try.
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