Posted on 07/30/2006 9:16:21 PM PDT by neverdem
CINCINNATI, July 30 — Immigration agents had prepared a nasty surprise for the Garcia Labor Company, a temporary worker contractor, when they moved against it on charges of hiring illegal immigrants. They brought a 40-count federal indictment, part of a new nationwide strategy by immigration officials to clamp down on employers of illegal immigrant laborers.
Maximino Garcia, the president of the company, which provides low-wage laborers to businesses from Pennsylvania to Texas, stood before a federal judge here on Tuesday to answer conspiracy charges of aiding illegal immigrants and money laundering. If convicted, Mr. Garcia, who pleaded not guilty, could serve 20 years in jail and forfeit his headquarters building and $12 million.
The criminal charges against Mr. Garcia and his company were brought by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. The campaign has included at least five other federal indictments of business executives in Ohio and Kentucky and has sent payroll managers rushing to re-examine their workers’ papers and rethink plans for their work force.
It also created a new environment of fear in Ohio’s immigrant communities.
“It’s a very uneasy feeling,” said Sister Teresa Ann Wolf, a Roman Catholic nun who works with immigrant workers in Canton, Ohio. “People are afraid to leave the house to go to the store. They are afraid to come to church.”
Until recently, the worst that Mr. Garcia, 43, might have expected from the immigration authorities was a civil fine and the deportation of some illegal workers. In April, with President Bush under fire from both Democrats and Republicans who accused him of being lax on employers of illegal immigrants, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the new campaign. It focuses on those suspected of violations with felony charges that could lead to huge financial...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They wouldn't be coming across the border if they didn't KNOW some unethical employer would hire them.
ping
Stick it where the sun doesn't shine!
"The points is, how is the employer supposed to know that?"
They can check them on a web site with up to 10 inquires/request.
The fact remains that we have a president who has flatly refused to enforce those very laws ever since he took office. The invasion has continued, to the tune of around 3 million every year.
This president has failed to protect American borders in the face of terrorism and invasion. What is your solution to a president who has turned his back on American taxpayers and workers in favor of foreign interests?
What do you have to fear if you're here legally?
Thanks for the ping, beachie!
Tell you what, I would rather have tasteless fruits and other tasteless ag products, than see my neighborhood become a crime ridden barrio and the political center of my local area shift dramatically to the left.
You as a Californian should know this better than most anyone about the price of cheap and illegal labor, and the long term political impact.
People that use that kind of "logic" such as X fruit will cost $10 a peice and such arent all that intelligent in my book.
Every year the IRS sends thousands of such letters to employers accross the country, and then no one does anything about it. Many of the social security numbers are so obvious, like 000-00-0000, you'd have to be a complete idiot not to know that they're fake.
If that's not enough, the social security administration has a website wherein you can instantly verify an employee's social security number.
There is no excuse.
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