Immigration Law Advisory - Recent Immigration Raids Highlight Employers' Liability

Recently, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has conducted high-profile raids on businesses that hire unauthorized immigrant workers, as part of its broader efforts to enforce immigration laws. Such raids and the arrests that followed highlight the importance of proactive compliance efforts by employers, particular those employers that tend to hire a significant number of immigrant workers.   

In April 2006, ICE raided 52 workshops in 26 states run by IFCO Systems North America, Inc., the nation’s largest recycler of wooden pallets, arresting seven mid-level managers and 1,187 undocumented workers on illegal immigration charges.  In December 2006, in the largest-ever workplace crackdown on illegal immigration, ICE raided six meat processing plants of Swift & Company in six states and arrested 1,282 workers, about 10% of the company’s workforce. 

In February 2007, in raids in 17 states and Washington, DC, ICE arrested three top executives of RCI, a Nevada-based national cleaning service, and 195 of its workers, and charged the three executives with knowingly hiring undocumented workers. In March 2007, ICE raided the Michael Bianco company, a leather factory company in Bradford, Massachusetts, and rounded up 361 undocumented workers—more than 70% of the company’s workforce. In the same month, ICE arrested the president and several top managers of Sun Dry Wall & Stucco Inc., a construction company in southern Arizona, as well as 10 undocumented workers, and charged the president and the human resources manager of the company with conspiring to knowingly hire undocumented workers.

Unlike earlier raids, the most recent wave of ICE raids since April 2006 has focused on employers who hire illegal immigrants. “We know that targeting unscrupulous employers is crucial to deterring illegal immigration,” said Julie Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of ICE, in a statement announcing the arrests of the RCI executives and workers in February 2007. “Today's charges against RCI executives reflect the federal government's commitment to addressing the employment magnet for illegal immigration and ensuring businesses comply with our laws,” Ms. Myers continued. In February 2007, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff also promised that there would be more work-site enforcement arrests and that more high-impact criminal cases would be brought against employers who systematically violate immigration laws.

The recent immigration raids and arrests serve as fresh and cautionary reminders to businesses and corporate executives and managers of their obligation to comply with the nation’s immigration laws. It is recommended that employers, particularly those that tend to hire immigrant workers, take a proactive approach, engage in due diligence at time of hire, and conduct regular reviews of their employees’ immigration records to ensure compliance with the immigration laws.

If you would like additional information or assistance, please contact Lynda Zengerle at (202) 429-8170.