Immigration Law and Business Enforcement Audits Considered

The federal government is cracking down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants and they are auditing employer's I-9s and paperwork to find violations. In fact, they notified nearly 1,000 businesses across the nation that their records will be audited, and also warned the companies of the stiff penalties if they did not fix the problems.

The Obama Administration doesn't want immigration officials to "storm businesses" while people are working. Rather they would like to look at all the records. For those business owners with a history of violating these laws they can expect stiff criminal penalties. The government has already went over Social Security Numbers and notified many businesses that they are aware that the Social Security Numbers do not match, and the company needs to clean up their act.

One company in Los Angeles that has over 10,000 employees, and was estimated having about 15% of its work force as undocumented, perhaps even illegal aliens working there, which is what's suspected. They now have 30 days to fix the problem or the owners will be put in jail, the company closed, and extremely harsh penalties will be levied.

Some employers claim there are typographical errors on the forms, but the government said; "that's no longer good enough, and it's not acceptable." No doubt these are probably excuses, as companies try to hide the fact that they hire illegal immigrants in order to pay lower wages. and skip out on various taxes and fees.

Previously a business could simply say they did not know that they were receiving fake documents. But now the government is telling them that these are not legitimate workers, and therefore those excuses no longer holds water. Companies are referred to the e-verify system, and if they fail to use it there is no excuse.

Various Hispanic groups are protesting this action, but much of it is driven by unemployment for US citizens, and labor unions, which see the exploitation of illegal immigrants as a way to avoid paying living wages to union workers. Nevertheless, those who do not follow the immigration laws when hiring workers will most likely be thrown in jail the future. Please consider all this.