[Rhodes22-list] Reduce your federal income tax (political humor)

[Gregg J. MacMillan]

Just enforce existing laws...it's amazing how well this concept seems 
to be working in the Greater Cincinnati area.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fischer Homes feels sting of 'get tough' approach

By Michael Collins
Post Washington Bureau

NEARLY 100 PEOPLE FACING CHARGES
Nearly 100 people have now been charged in an ongoing investigation 
into the use of illegal immigrants in the Northern Kentucky 
home-building industry

Most face charges of being in the United States illegally, but nearly 
two dozen others face charges of harboring the men by providing them 
with jobs and places to live.

Four Fischer Homes supervisors - Tim Copsy, William Allison, Bill 
Ring and Doug Witt - have been charged with harboring illegal workers 
by providing them jobs. The men, who face up to 10 years in prison, 
have pleaded innocent and are free on bail.

Fischer Homes has denied that the company or any of its employees 
have done anything wrong.


WASHINGTON - Not long ago, whenever federal authorities caught 
employers hiring illegal immigrants, they usually dealt with the 
problem by slapping the company with a stiff fine.
But when agents raided four Northern Kentucky construction sites 
operated by Fischer Homes last month, they took a tougher approach. 
They arrested four supervisors and dozens of undocumented workers and 
charged them with crimes.
The criminal charges reflect a dramatic shift in the federal 
government's strategy for cracking down on employers who hire illegal 
immigrants. Officials say employers take the threat of criminal 
charges much more seriously than fines, which were often reduced 
during negotiations.
"More robust criminal cases against unscrupulous employers are a much 
more effective deterrent than levying administrative fines," said 
Gail Montenegro, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement agency.
"We find that the prospect of 10 years in federal prison or federal 
forfeiture carries much sharper teeth, and that is the future of our 
worksite enforcement efforts."
The government initiated the get-tough approach after the Immigration 
and Naturalization Service was terminated in 2003 and most of its 
responsibilities were transferred to three agencies within the newly 
created Department of Homeland Security.
One of those agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement - or ICE - 
is responsible for immigration and customs laws inside the United 
States.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is conducting far more criminal 
investigations than the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, 
which tended to rely on administrative fines as a sanction against 
companies caught hiring illegal workers.
Such fines were matters between the employer and the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service and were not governed by the courts.
Authorities say criminal investigations are more effective because 
defendants can now be convicted in court and face the possibility of 
prison time. Even if a case is settled, the agreement could still 
fall under the court's jurisdiction.
That is significant because it means that payments would be mandatory 
and that other stipulations could be included in the settlement, such 
as requiring that a company put internal procedures in place to 
comply with the law.
Before the policy shift, illegal worker arrests had fallen off 
dramatically, from 2,849 in 1999 to 445 in 2003, according to a 
report by the government's General Accounting Office.
The following year, however, those numbers began to climb - jumping 
to 845 in 2004 and 1,145 in 2005. This year alone, more than 2,100 
people have been arrested. And those numbers don't include the 
arrests in the Fischer Homes investigation or several other raids 
that took place last month.
In the criminal cases, the government typically brings charges of 
knowingly hiring illegal aliens and, whenever possible, of money 
laundering and harboring illegal aliens. Money laundering is a felony 
punishable by up to 20 years in prison, while harboring illegal 
aliens carries a potential 10-year prison sentence.
Those charges also give authorities the right to seize assets that 
employers have derived from criminal activities.
"It is good to see that they are making an attempt to enforce the 
law," said Caroline Espinosa, spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, which is 
pushing for tougher immigration enforcement. "Sometimes, fines aren't 
enough."
Fines were considered just another cost of doing business and 
especially palatable to employers because they were offset by the 
savings from employing illegal aliens, "in most cases, at a much 
lower wage than they would be paying American citizens," Espinosa 
said.
"Breaking this law actually hurts more people than most people 
realize," she said, because "it drives down wages for American 
citizens as well."
Columbus, Ohio, attorney David Cook, who specializes in 
employment-based immigration issues, said that while criminal charges 
are a deterrent to hiring undocumented workers, he thinks the recent 
raids are part of a bigger strategy to build support for the Bush 
administration's proposed guest worker program.
"I think the way they see the opportunity to build support for that 
is to show that they are getting tough on the unauthorized workers 
and on worksite enforcement," said Cook.
Many employers make a good-faith effort to comply with immigration 
laws, Cook said, but find the process used to verify a worker's 
identity and work authorization is cumbersome and difficult to do 
correctly.
For example, the Department of Homeland Security has changed the type 
of documents that an individual can present for identification 
purposes and to verify work authorization. Yet, "they continue to 
publish and provide a form that has the old list of documents," Cook 
said. "They've never bothered to update their forms."
Employers "need to be educated as to what the law is and come to an 
understanding of how the government is applying the law," he said.
-- 
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
T e c h n e G r a p h i c s, I n c.
1 . 8 0 0 . 7 7 1 . 3 1 7 1
2002 Ford Circle, Milford, OH  45150
mailto:gjm at techgra.com
http://www.techgra.com
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/