Guest Column
- REPORT IMMIGRATION NEWS
- DHS: ICE, CBP, USCIS
- REPORT IMMIGRATION NEWS
- DHS: ICE, CBP, USCIS
ICE. The GAO testified on June 21, 2005 that Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) has made worksite enforcement a "low priority,"
reducing the share of its budget devoted to trying to prevent
unauthorized workers from getting jobs from nine percent in FY99 to
four percent in FY03.
In FY99, 417 US employers were cited for employing unauthorized
workers; in FY04, three were cited. There were 65 agents focused on
worksite enforcement in FY04, down from 240 in 1999. ICE says that
it has been hard to prove employer violations of the sanctions law
and to collect fines. ICE agents must obtain approval from
headquarters before conducting workplace inspections not related to
critical infrastructure, as at airports and nuclear plants.
In many cases, worksite enforcement has political repercussions.
Inspections of Vidalia onion fields of Georgia in May 1998 brought a
rebuke from then Rep. and now Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who
accused immigration officials of using "bullying tactics" to root out
illegal workers. Today, Chambliss is a leader of the get-tough-on-
illegal-immigration faction of the Republican party, and argues that
the US needs to step up both border and interior enforcement.
ICE did step up workplace inspections in spring 2006, as the Senate
debated immigration reform. On April 19, 2006, ICE agents detained
almost 1,187 migrants in 26 states as well as seven managers at IFCO
Systems, a German-owned refurbisher of the wooden pallets used by
supermarkets to handle goods. Interviews with some of the workers
returned to Mexico reported wages of $350 a week at IFCO, and some of
the Oaxacans removed said they had picked tomatoes in northwestern
Mexico before coming to the US.
ICE said that workplace inspections would continue in 2006, with
agents targeting employers who "egregiously and specifically violate
the law." ICE director Julie Myers acknowledged that it will be hard
to reverse "growing tolerance for the employment of illegal aliens
and for illegal immigration."
In May 2006, ICE apprehended 76 workers employed by Fischer Homes,
based in Kentucky, and charged four Fischer supervisors with aiding
and abetting or harboring illegal migrants for commercial or private
financial gain. ICE agents in western New York arrested 29 employees
of Schichtel Nursery in May 2006, and immediately flew them to the
Mexican border for removal. It appears that neither Rochester-based
contractor Cliff DeMay nor nursery owner George Schichtel will be
charged-- DeMay complained: "It's a shame they're taking these good
people away when they all might be offered amnesty in a few weeks."
ICE in April-May 2006 charged the owner of an Indiana stucco company
with employing illegal workers and won guilty pleas and the
forfeiture of more than $1 million by operators of three Baltimore
restaurants for conspiring to harbor illegal migrants. Two Ohio
temporary-employment agencies and nine people were indicted on
charges of hiring and harboring illegal migrants.
Some said the goal of these ICE operations was to send a signal that
a guest worker program must be included in immigration reforms, while
others said the goal was to intimidate unauthorized foreigners and
reduce participation in demonstrations in favor of the Senate bill.
In some areas, rumors of ICE raids led to fewer children at school
and some workers staying away from work.
At least half of the 7.5 million unauthorized workers in the US are
believed to have jobs with mainstream firms, often using legitimate
SSNs that belong to others. The New York Times on June 19, 2006
outlined the rising share of immigrants in the US janitorial
industry, saying that Hispanic immigrants rose from five to 20
percent of US janitors between 1980 and 2000. Janitors' median
earnings fell three percent in real terms between 1983 and 2002, a
time when real earnings across all occupations rose by eight percent.
The Charlotte Observer on April 23, 2006 reported that ICE has data
on many employers who have likely violated immigration laws,
including one employer using the same Social Security Number for
2,580 worker reports to the Social Security Administration and
another who submitted 4,100 SSNs that belonged to other workers.
Some 40 US employers have been consistently among the top 100 in
filing inaccurate wage reports over eight years.
The SSA's Earnings Suspense File, created in the 1930s, receives 255
million wage reports a year. About 10 percent are inaccurate due to
mistakes and misuse of Social Security numbers by immigrants and
others; half of these inaccurate wage reports are from agriculture,
construction and restaurant employers (another source says SSA sends
mis-match letters to 130,000 US employers affecting eight million
workers a year). On June 9, 2006, DHS issued regulations that
require employers who receive mis-match letters from SSA to ensure
that there is not a typographical mistake and contact the employee
about the mis-match or face penalties.
The Los Angeles Times on April 15, 2006 reported that contractors are
increasingly the glue that links unauthorized workers and US jobs.
When unauthorized workers are detected at airports or military bases,
liability usually stops with the contractor who brought the workers
to the facility, so that contractors act as "risk absorbers" for
larger businesses.
In an effort to get larger businesses to police their subcontractors,
the federal government brought cases arguing that the beneficiary of
the work is jointly liable with the contractor for immigration
violations. However, in February 2003, a jury acquitted Tyson Foods
of knowing that a placement agency was supplying unauthorized workers
to its poultry processing plants. Wal-Mart, on the other hand,
agreed to pay $11 million to the federal government in 2005 after a
raid resulted in the arrest of 245 undocumented janitors, since the
government had evidence that Wal-Mart executives knew their
janitorial subcontractors hired unauthorized workers.
The AP reported that some of the unauthorized workers apprehended at
the US-Mexican border have jobs waiting for them. The Great Texas
Employment Agency in McKinney, Texas placed ads in Chinese-language
newspapers in the Chicago area offering Latino workers to Chinese
restaurants. Shan Wei Yu sent recruiters to find newly arrived
illegal workers in the border area and drive them north, placing
6,000 migrants in the upper Midwest over 15 months and earning
$900,000 (migrants had the $450 in recruitment and transportation
fees deducted from their first-month paychecks of $1,000). The
migrants usually had 14-hour work days and little contact with the
outside world.
ICE also apprehends and removes foreigners ordered deported from the
US. More state and local law enforcement agencies ask ICE to take
custody of unauthorized foreigners who commit "minor crimes,"
including drunk driving and domestic violence. The US Department of
Justice estimates that 270,000 unauthorized foreigners spent time in
state and local prisons in 2005, and ICE is making an effort to take
custody of them when they have served their sentences.
The US Supreme Court in June 2006 upheld the right of the US
government to deport Utah truck driver Humberto Fernandez-Vargas to
Mexico in 2004 because he returned to the U.S. illegally in 1982
after having been previously deported. The 1996 Illegal Immigration
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act requires illegal migrants who
reenter the country after a previous deportation to be removed,
usually with no opportunity for an appeal or change in immigration
status, and to stay away for at least 10 years. Fernandez-Vargas
married a US citizen in 2001, applied for a green card and was
deported because of his prior deportation.
CBP. Some 1,676,438 foreigners were apprehended by the Border Patrol,
a part of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), just inside the
Mexico-US border in 2000. Apprehensions dropped to 931,557 in 2003,
but rose to 1,189,067 in 2005. Some 473 persons died on the
southwest border in FY05, and 210 in the first six months of FY06.
There are now about 11,000 Border Patrol agents, making the Border
Patrol the largest federal law enforcement agency. President Bush
pledged to add 6,000 Border Patrol agents by the end of 2008.
Recruits complete a 19 week, 750-hour training course that includes
221 hours of Spanish-language instruction.
Apprehensions and smuggling fees are rising. The Border Patrol says
that smugglers now charge $1,500 to $2,000 to take migrants from
Mexican border towns to Phoenix. Some Border Patrol agents attribute
rising apprehensions to US discussions of legalization as well as
more fences and agents. Some smugglers are urging migrants to go now
to take advantage of any legalization and get into the US before
border controls are strengthened.
About 90 percent of those apprehended along the Mexico-US border are
Mexicans. Most are fingerprinted, photographed and allowed to return
voluntarily to Mexico, unless a large number of prior arrests
suggests they are smugglers. According to an Associated Press report
on May 18, 2006, only six percent of 289 suspected smugglers were
prosecuted for that offense in the year ending in September 2004
(some were prosecuted for other crimes, including illegally re-
entering the US). Associated Press reported that only those who
smuggle 12 or more migrants are prosecuted, and that smuggling fees
averaged $1,400 in 2004.
The 155,000 "other than Mexicans" (OTMs) apprehended in FY05 have the
right to go before an immigration judge and explain why they should
not be removed from the US. Limited detention space for OTMs means
that most are released and do not appear in immigration court.
Mexico plays a crucial role in OTM policy. It does not accept the
return of third-country nationals who transited Mexico to the US. In
February 2004, Mexico dropped visa requirements on Brazilians, and
many flew to Mexico to enter the US illegally at the Mexico-US
border. In October 2005, Mexico re-imposed visa requirements on
Brazilians.
An average of 4,300 Salvadorans a month were apprehended on the
Mexico-US border in FY06. A 1988 court order requires the US
government to give them a hearing before removal, a legacy of US
policies during El Salvador's civil war, which ended in 1992.
Because of limited detention space, most Salvadorans apprehended are
released and given an order to appear in court; 90 percent fail to
appear.
President Bush has vowed to replace this catch-and-release with a
catch-and-remove policy. Under Operation Streamline II, foreigners
apprehended along 190 miles of the Texas-Mexican border are
prosecuted for the misdemeanor crime of illegal entry and jailed for
15 to 180 days before removal, with a second offense leading to a
two-year prison sentence. Apprehensions fell sharply around Eagle
Pass, suggesting that enforcing existing laws could reduce illegal
entries.
Some urge prosecution of all apprehended foreigners despite the
$35,000 a year cost of detaining a foreigner. About 70 percent of
OTMs apprehended in FY05 were released, and over 80 percent of those
released did not appear in immigration court. DHS has about 19,000
beds available to detain foreigners, and Bush proposed adding 6,000.
In September 2005, DHS expanded "expedited removal" to the full
southern border, meaning that OTM foreigners can be removed without
an immigration hearing unless they seek asylum or cite a fear of
persecution at home.
About 60 percent of unauthorized foreigners enter the US between
ports of entry; 40 percent enter legally and overstay or violate the
terms of their visa, as when a tourist goes to work. DHS estimates
165,000 "visa violations" a year (8,000 visa violators were arrested
in 2005), and is working on an entry-exit tracking system, US-VISIT,
to identify those who enter the US legally and overstay. US-VISIT in
May 2006 was operating at 115 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land
ports of entry, but the exit part of the system will not be operating
until 2007.
The ACLU is suing the federal government over the FBI-operated
terrorist screening watch list, which included 237,000 names in 2005.
There are 12 federal agencies that can add names to the list, but
only the originating agency can remove a name, and those added do not
know which agency added them to the list. The suit involves
individuals detained every time they return to the US.
USCIS. On Form I-9, US employers certify that they reviewed documents
presented by newly hired employees establishing identity and right to
work in the US. Document fraud (use of counterfeit documents) and
identity fraud (fraudulent use of valid documents or information
belonging to others) make it difficult for employers to ensure they
hire only authorized workers and allows some to knowingly hire
unauthorized workers and escape sanctions.
About 6,200 US employers were participating in the voluntary Basic
Pilot employee verification system at 25,000 hiring sites in 2006.
These employers submit personal data as well as immigration and
social security numbers via the Internet or by telephone to be
checked against immigration and social security databases. If these
employer-submitted data do not match SSA and/or DHS records,
employees have eight days to contact SSA or USCIS to correct the
data. About 85 percent of the employer-submitted data results in
clear authorized or not-authorized results immediately. Some reports
say that 15 percent must be checked manually, but USCIS says only
three percent require manual checks.
A GAO report in August 2005 concluded that Basic Pilot relies on
flawed databases, could not detect identity fraud, and was vulnerable
to employer abuse. A third of non-US citizens initially flagged as
"unable to confirm" are later found to be legally authorized to work.
Expanding Basic Pilot to cover all new hires, as required by the
House and Senate bills, would cost at least $1 billion and take
several years; President Bush requested $110 million in FY07 to
improve Basic Pilot.
USCIS handles naturalization, which costs $330, and immigrant visas
issued inside the US, which cost $325; in each case, there is also a
$70 fingerprinting fee. DHS says that these fees do not reflect its
costs and wants to raise them.
Immigration 2005. There were 1.1 million legal immigrants in FY05, up
from 960,000 in FY04 and 705,000 in FY03. Mexico's share of the
immigrant flow, 161,000 or 14 percent, lower than the usual 30
percent. The five leading countries of origin, Mexico, China, India,
Philippines and Cuba, accounted for 37 percent of FY05 immigrants.
As in previous years, about 40 percent of those "admitted" in FY05
were immediate relatives of US citizens, 437,000, up from 419,000 in
FY04 and 333,000 in FY03. The number of family-sponsored immigrants
subject to quota restrictions was 650,000 in FY05, up from 633,000 in
FY04 and 493,000 in FY03.
The largest increase was in employment-based immigration, 247,000 in
FY05, up from 155,000 in FY04 and 82,000 in FY03. Numbers were up in
all categories, from 14,500 priority workers in FY03 to 65,000 in
FY05; for professionals with advanced degrees from 15,500 in FY03 to
43,000 in FY05; and for other workers from 47,000 in FY03 to 129,000
in FY05.
Refugees. The US has settled an average of 98,000 refugees a year
since the Refugee Act of 1980 changed the US definition to reflect
the Geneva Convention, which defines refugees as persons unable or
unwilling to return to their home country owing to a well-founded
fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality,
political views or membership in a particular social group. The US
budgeted $484 million for refugee services in FY05; refugees receive
at least $400 on arrival in the US, and are to repay their
transportation costs to the US within three years.
The USA Patriot Act of 2001 bars the resettlement in the US of
refugees who provided "material support" to terrorist groups. One
result is that 9,300 Burmese refugees in camps in Thailand were
barred from resettlement because they paid taxes to the Karen
National Union, which is attempting to unseat the Burmese government.
In May 2006, the Bush administration announced that the these Burmese
would be given a waiver so that they can be resettled in the US;
refugee advocates want the US law changed so that waivers are not
needed.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 7-4 decision in June
2005 ruled that a South African family that faced persecution at home
because the wife's father was a "brutal racist" could receive asylum
in the US because families were "social groups."
TPS. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras and Nicaragua. In
response, the US granted temporary protected status to Hondurans and
Nicaraguans in the US so they could earn money and send home
remittances for rebuilding. About 75,000 Hondurans and 4,000
Nicaraguans received TPS.
As the sixth renewal approached on June 1, 2006, fewer than 38,000
Hondurans and 2,000 Nicaraguans had paid $250 to renew their TPS.
Some reportedly said that they preferred to save the money and become
immigrants under the Senate-passed immigration reform bill. Spanish-
language media trumpeted the Senate bill, and some advisors were
quoted as saying that foreigners with TPS may not be eligible for
legalization.
Some 220,000 Salvadorans were granted TPS in 2001 after earthquakes
struck their country; their TPS has been renewed three times.
Burundians, Liberians, Somalis and Sudanese have TPS as well.
_________________________________________
SOURCES: Sylvia Moreno, "Along Part of the Border, A Zero-Tolerance Zone,"
Washington Post, June 18, 2006. Nicole Gaouette, "New Crackdown on
Hiring of Illegal Immigrants," Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2006.
Griff Witte, "Expanded Worker Checks Would Use Faulty System,"
Washington Post, May 25, 2006. Anna Gorman, "Staying Put When Visas
Expire," Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2006. Spencer S. Hsu, "Arrests
Target Use of Illegal Workers," Washington Post, May 10, 2006. Peter
St. Onge and Tim Funk, "Stolen Social Security numbers used to get
jobs," Charlotte Observer, April 23, 2006. Anna Gorman, "Contractors
Often Play a Key Role in the Hiring of Illegal Immigrants," Los
Angeles Times, April 15, 2006.
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