Posted on 11/24/2017 1:05:58 PM PST by TaxPayer2000
The forthcoming ICE operation is the surest sign to date that the Trump administration is ramping up ‘worksite enforcement.’
Federal agents are planning to conduct a major worksite enforcement operation at a national food service chain in the coming weeks, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) document reviewed by The Daily Beast.
The current plan is focused on employers who exploit undocumented workers by illegally paying them below the minimum wage. The operation will target locations around the country and will likely result in charges of “harboring illegal aliens,” according to an ICE official.
“These people are basically being used as slave labor,” said the official, who spoke to The Daily Beast anonymously because he was not permitted to discuss impending operations on the record.
The plans detailed in the document are the strongest indication to date that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are increasing what’s called “worksite enforcement”—meaning, efforts to prosecute people who employ undocumented immigrants. As with all complex law enforcement operations, there’s a chance this one is altered or even scuttled. If it does go according to plan, however, it will be the first major worksite enforcement action of an administration that has promised to prioritize this core ICE mission.
The food service industry is a particularly ripe target, with The Migration Policy Institute estimating that about 9 percent of food service workers in the U.S. are undocumented.
According to the plans, the operation will focus on franchise owners who exploit undocumented workers. The agency has already done preliminary investigations and picked targets, The Daily Beast has learned.
ICE is divided into two components: Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which arrests and detains undocumented immigrants, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which investigates crimes related to customs and migration. HSI agents handle a host of issues, including art forgery, child exploitation, and drug crop eradication. They will also be helming this coming operation.
On April 27, 2015, Farrukh Baig—who owned and operated 14 7-Eleven stores—pleaded guilty to wire fraud and to “concealing and harboring illegal aliens,” according to the Justice Department. According to court documents, Baig and several co-conspirators hired more than 100 undocumented immigrants to work in his stores. He then used the stolen identities of Americans to conceal his workers’ identities. Because the workers were undocumented, Baig and his store managers stole much of their wages and then paid them in cash, below the minimum wage.
Baig and his managers housed the undocumented immigrants at homes near the 7-Eleven stores where they worked, and deducted rent from their paychecks. In all, their scheme lasted more than 13 years. Federal prosecutors said that over the course of two of those years, they stole more than $1.25 million from the undocumented immigrants working for them.
Undocumented workers are uniquely vulnerable to this kind of exploitation because many fear that talking to law enforcement will lead to their deportation.
The ICE official who spoke to The Daily Beast said undocumented workers who cooperate with the agency could potentially be eligible for U visas, which let victims of crimes who testify against their perpetrators stay in the United States temporarily.
Tom Homan, the acting director of ICE, said in a speech last month at the conservative Heritage Foundation that the agency would target more work sites in the coming months. He also said the agency would target undocumented workers as well as their employers.
“Not only are we going to prosecute the employers that hire illegal workers, we’re going to detain and remove the illegal alien workers,” he said.
“When we find you at a work site, we’re no longer going to turn our heads,” Homan said after the event, according to CNN. “We’ll go after the employer who knowingly hires an illegal alien... but we’re always going to arrest a person who is here illegally. That is our job.”
Prosecuting the employers? It’s about damned time!!!!!
Not E-Verify but a great start! Stand by for the mass rush south. (and all the sob stories on CCN, NBC, CBS..)
WHAT PART OF ILLEGAL DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?????
[ “Not only are we going to prosecute the employers that hire illegal workers, we’re going to detain and remove the illegal alien workers,” he said. ]
Yes, way beyond flipping time. After decades of harming legal U.S. workers.
Reagan signed the bill that authorized employer sanctions/fines. How much more clear could it be, that we’ve been screwed by our presidents since 1986 or seven.
Finally, we have a “by the book” man in office.
Thank you President Trump.
More jobs for U. S. Citizens coming up...
Think of it. We have foreign nationals working, and we’re paying people to be on unemployment and welfare. Brilliant that isn’t!
I hope it happens, it would be great, but we have heard it before.
Planning? The coming weeks? How about ICE get off their backsides and have it done already?
Enforce the law bump!
Who knew that those Taco Bell “Make a Run for the Border” ads in the 1980s, were really a recruitment campaign for illegal workers!
They shouldn’t be tipping them off. The element of surprise.
Say what you will about Sessions, but he is a bulldog on illegals.
“They shouldn’t be tipping them off. “
search FR for ICE’ AND/OR BORDER PATROL. The ICE and BP agents are complaining that the leftover obama bots are WARNING the illegals they are coming and when they get there, the illegals are gone. The swamp has not been drained completely. The last regime made sure to leave landmines for Trump to trip over.
[The ICE and BP agents are complaining that the leftover obama bots are WARNING the illegals they are coming and when they get there, the illegals are gone.]
Find ways to identify folks like that and start giving them 20 years in federal prison for such leaks. Imprison about five and most of it will stop very quickly.
It was fairly common until, oh, about eight or nine years ago.
It works both ways.
Illegal crossings at our southern border are down and much of the decrease may be due to the publicity regarding a crackdown.
The best of this policy lies ahead. Employers soon will have plenty of incentive to check the status of potential employees. When word gets out that nobody can hire an illegal, the flood will start in the opposite direction.
Many years ago I represented a group of Italian restaurants during a Federal Tax audit. The field agent tried to disallow the expenses on the return for the frequent trips to Italy.
I laughed and explained to the agent that my client was recruiting new employees.. He disallowed them. We won the expense in tax court as it was very true.
When you consider the risk of disease and parasites and spreading them to innocents this is a no-brainer unless you happen to be the spawn of Satan.
“Who knew that those Taco Bell “Make a Run for the Border””
My money is on the East Indian and Pakky guys being the biggest represented tribes...
............hope it’s Starbucks!
Tyson Foods should be hiring just about now....
Do they ever tell who the major chain is?
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