In a stunning television report, Fox 5 Atlanta sheds new light on who is giving illegal immigrants jobs. This news team collected more than 16,000 records from three area jails which flagged illegal aliens and also collected information from them -- including who their employer is.

The news team discovered that more than half of the workers not surprisingly listed jobs in construction or as day laborers, but a fair number of the illegal immigrants also held down jobs at mainstream companies which say they work hard to keep illegal immigrants out of their work force.

The companies included such businesses as McDonalds, Wendy's and the Golden Corral. A fair number worked at Target, Home Depot and even a few at Wal-Mart. The journalists tried to question the businesses about their hiring practices but for the most part got little but written statements emphasizing the company tries hard to make sure they don't hire illegal immigrants.

When the news team visited one area restaurant, they got very little in the way of an interview and the business owner provided a written statement only.

In some instances, the companies denied they had illegal immigrants working for them, even though jail mug shots of those workers showed them in their work shirts or uniforms -- and those outfits matched those of other employees at the business.

The I-Team also quoted experts who suggested that little was being done to keep companies on notice about hiring illegal immigrants. The news team also pointed out that the United States has a special program called E-Verify designed to help screen for illegal immigrants. But most of the companies involved didn't use the program.

Read news release: Justice Department and ICE reach $4.5 million agreement with Pilgrim's Pride

According to a news release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal government and Pilgrim's Pride Corporation have reached an agreement to resolve an investigation involving the hiring and employment of unauthorized aliens at some of the company's Texas plants.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pilgrim's Pride agreed to pay the government $4.5 million and adopt more stringent immigration compliance practices to ensure that its work force is composed of employees legally entitled to work in the United States. As a result of this agreement, Pilgrim's Pride will continue to strengthen its workplace compliance programs and adopt measures recommended by ICE – such as the use of the government’s E-Verify electronic employment eligibility verification system – to identify and avoid the employment of unauthorized aliens.

As part of the ICE investigation, twenty-five unauthorized aliens were arrested in December 2007 in Texas and charged with misuse of a Social Security Account number. In early 2008, worksite enforcement actions conducted by ICE at five Pilgrim's Pride plants in Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee resulted in the apprehension of approximately 338 unauthorized aliens, and thirty-eight illegal aliens were convicted for misuse of a Social Security Account number.

A designated E-Verify service agent, I-9Compliance.com — a web-based I-9 Form/E-Verify solution from nationally recognized employment screening provider Pre-Employ.com — is pre-integrated with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) E-Verify system and helps employers ensure I-9 compliance, eliminate errors, and avoid government audits.

For more information about maintaining I-9 compliance, view a complimentary on demand webinar “E-Verify & Federal Contractors: Know The Facts,” visit www.i-9compliance.com, email info@i-9compliance.com, or call 1-800-300-1821.

pr@i-9compliance.com

As a result of two worksite enforcement investigations conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the owner of a Missouri roofing company pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to hiring illegal aliens and also agreed to forfeit $185,363 to the government and pay a fine of $36,000, while a Missouri poultry-processing plant where 136 illegal alien workers were arrested paid a $450,000 administrative fine.

According to a news release from ICE, the owner of Taylor-Made Roofing admitted that from August 2006 through April 2008, he hired, contracted, and sub-contracted for hire to obtain illegal aliens to work for him. By pleading guilty, the owner also agreed to implement an employment-compliance plan, forfeit to the government $185,363 – the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the offense – and to pay a fine of $36,000, a $3,000 fine for each of the 12 illegal aliens who worked at the company.

As reported in a second news release, George's Processing Inc. paid $450,000 as part of a settlement agreement for a May 2007 enforcement action at the plant where ICE agents administratively arrested 136 illegal alien workers. Two of the company's hiring personnel were convicted of harboring illegal aliens and inducing illegal aliens to remain in the United States, and the company must train its human resource managers on how to establish a compliance program and avoid hiring illegal aliens.

A spokesman for ICE said that “significant fines help hold businesses accountable to ensure a legal workforce.”  In April 2009, ICE –the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – implemented a new, comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for illegal alien employment by focusing its resources on the auditing and investigation of employers suspected of cultivating illegal workplaces by knowingly employing illegal alien workers.

A designated E-Verify service agent, I-9Compliance.com – a member of the Pre-Employ.com Family of Companies – is pre-integrated with the DHS's E-Verify system and provides employers with an electronic employment verification solution to help them manage complex compliance issues in a web-based, paperless environment. To learn more about I-9Compliance.com's E-Verify solution, view a FREE webinar on demand at http://www.i-9compliance.com/On-Demand-Webinars.aspx, read our FREE white paper at www.i-9compliance.com/whitepaper, visit www.i-9compliance.com, email sales@i-9compliance.com, or call 1-800-300-1821.

tahearn@i-9compliance.com

According to a recent article in the Charlotte Observer, more U.S. employers are turning to E-Verify, a federal program they hope will help them avoid hiring illegal immigrants.

After a branch manager noticed that nearly half the company's applicants presented questionable IDs, ResourceMFG put up a sign that warned potential hires that the recruiter used the E-Verify federal program to root out illegal immigrants. The company became one of a growing number of companies across the country enrolling in the E-Verify program run by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).

ResourceMFG is just one of the North Carolina firms that are choosing the free and voluntary E-Verify program in record numbers. The number of companies in the state enrolled in E-Verify has increased by more than 700 percent to 2,567 in the past two years. And for good reason, since the Obama administration has warned that it will focus on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – the largest and primary investigative arm of the DHS – made more than 6,000 workplace arrests, 135 of which were employers and managers. In addition, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing that active enforcement of our immigration laws by ICE must address not just the illegal workers themselves, but also the employers who hire illegal labor and fuel the phenomenon of illegal immigration into the United States.

For example, after more than 300 workers were detained in a raid of a plant in Greenville, S.C., the plant manager, the human resource manager, and about a dozen supervisors were arrested on immigration charges. As a result of these arrests and similar prosecutions, employers are paying a lot more attention to who they are hiring.

This aggressive stance against employing illegal workers has left many business owners worried about raids on their workplaces. Companies can no longer claim they didn't know they hired workers using fake IDs, so many are using E-Verify to protect themselves in the event of raids or investigations.

First tested in 1997, E-Verify allows employers to compare employment forms to Social Security and immigration records. Participation nationally has been expanding at a rate of about 1,000 new employers a week. More than 122,000 employers are enrolled, nearly five times more than in 2007.

Pre-Employ.com – a leading provider of background screening services – offers I-9Compliance.com to help employers outsource their I-9 Form and E-Verify needs at minimal cost. As a designated E-Verify service provider, I-9Compliance.com reduces risks and liability, virtually eliminates errors, maintains full compliance, and improves the economy by ensuring jobs for legal Americans. For more information, please visit us at www.i-9compliance.com, email sales@i-9Compliance.com, or call 1-800-300-1821.

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