Employer sanctions against hiring illegal workers has virtually been abandoned by the Bush administration, according to this WashingtonPost.com article.
Work-site enforcement operations were scaled back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service between 1999 and 2003. The INS was merged into the Homeland Security Department during those years. The number of prosecutions, of employers, dropped from 182 in 1999 to four in 2003 and fines declined from $3.6 million to $212,000, according to federal statistics.
Another stat for you; the United States initiated fines against 417 companies in 1999 but only three in 2004.
From the article:
The government's steady retreat from workplace enforcement in the 20 years since it became illegal to hire undocumented workers is the result of fierce political pressure from business lobbies, immigrant rights groups and members of Congress, according to law enforcement veterans. Punishing employers also was de-emphasized as the government recognized that it lacks the tools to do the job well, and as the Department of Homeland Security shifted resources to combat terrorism
Read the whole article here.
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