Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 15 May 2018

Immigration crackdown shifts to employers as audits surge

companies annually.
The proposal aims to cre-
ate a "reasonable expec-
tation" among employers
that they will be audited,
Benner said.
"This is kind of our vision
of creating this culture of
compliance," he said. "I
think it's a game-changer."
In October, Thomas
Homan, ICE's acting direc-
tor, pledged to increase
workplace enforcement by
"four or five times," open-
ing a new front in an im-
migration crackdown that
includes a 40 percent in-
crease in deportation ar-
rests and initial funding for
a border wall with Mexico.
In April, ICE agents made
97 arrests at a meatpack-
ing plant in rural Tennes-
see with a helicopter flying
above, reminiscent of the
high-profile shows of force
that were common during
President George W. Bush's
administration.
In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents serve an employment audit notice at a 7-Eleven
convenience store in Los Angeles. Benner said the agency
Associated Press will focus both on criminal
cases against employers as
By ELLIOT SPAGAT ees' identity and work au- 2016 and September 2017. ject to funding and support well deporting employees
Associated Press thorization. If employers Many of those reviews were for the plan from other ar- who in the country illegally.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Im- are found to hire someone launched following the eas of the administration, Illegal hiring creates unfair
migration officials have without proper documents, January ICE audits and em- Benner said. advantages for compa-
sharply increased audits of the employers may be sub- ployee interviews at about The proposal calls for cre- nies, encourages people
companies to verify that ject to administrative fines 100 7-Eleven franchises in ation of an Employer Com- to come to the U.S. illegally,
their employees are autho- and, in some cases, crimi- 17 states. pliance Inspection Center results in document and
rized to work in the country, nal prosecution. There were 594 employers to perform employer au- identity fraud and exposes
signaling the Trump ad- The recent focus on em- arrested on criminal immi- dits at a single location in- workers to potentially dan-
ministration's crackdown ployers comes after a gration charges from Oct. 1 stead of at regional offices gerous conditions without
on illegal immigration is surge of deportation ar- to May 4, up from 139 dur- around the country, Benner overtime pay or health in-
reaching deeper into the rests of workers that started ing the previous fiscal year, said. Electronically scan- surance, he said.
workplace to create a immediately after Trump and 610 civil immigration ning the documents will It remains to be seen wheth-
"culture of compliance" took office in January 2017. charges during the same help flag suspicious activ- er immigration authorities
among employers who rely The crackdown is likely to period, compared to 172 in ity, and the most egregious can perform enough au-
on immigrant labor. please immigration hawks the preceding 12-months. cases will be farmed out to dits to compel a similar de-
Expansive plans also have among Trump's supporters Derek Benner, head of ICE's regional offices for more gree of compliance that
been drafted for a long- but may alienate industries Homeland Security Investi- investigation. Audit notices the Internal Revenue Ser-
term push to scrutinize em- and companies that rely gations unit, told The Asso- will be served electronically vice does on personal and
ployers' hiring practices on immigrant labor. ciated Press that another or by certified mail, instead corporate tax returns. One
more closely. There were 2,282 employer nationwide wave of audits of in person. measure may be the num-
Under a 1986 federal law, audits opened between planned this summer would Benner said that putting up ber of employees who vol-
companies must verify their Oct. 1 and May 4, U.S. Im- push the total "well over" to 250 auditors in one cen- untarily enroll in the federal
employees are authorized migration and Customs 5,000 by Sept 30. ICE audits ter with the right technolo- government's E-Verify sys-
to work in the United States Enforcement said Mon- peaked at 3,127 in 2013. gy and a team of attorneys tem to electronically con-
by reviewing their docu- day, nearly a 60 percent The agency has developed to quickly levy fines would firm if a person is authorized
ments and verifying to the jump from the 1,360 audits a plan to open as many as enable his agency to audit to work in the U.S.
government the employ- opened between October 15,000 audits a year, sub- between 10,000 and 15,000 q