Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

2/15/00 News Report -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

In one of its biggest crackdowns in the Upper Midwest, the U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS) said Monday that it has fined a Winona,
Minn., temporary employment agency $141,295 for hiring 103 foreigners who
were not authorized to work in this country.

Most of the unauthorized employees of Express Personnel of Winona were from
Asia, Africa and the Middle East and attended colleges in Winona, the INS
alleged.

The company knew or should have known that the employees were illegal, said
Curtis Aljets, director of the INS district that includes Minnesota, North
Dakota and South Dakota.

The fine is the highest handed down for unauthorized workers in the three
states, Aljets said. However, fines are typically reduced by an
administrative law judge or as part of a settlement between the firms and
the government, he said.

"Sometimes it doesn't get reduced much; sometimes it comes down quite a
ways," he said.

Mark Tasler, owner of Express Personnel of Winona, said, "We always operate
within the law. They're alleging a lot. There are other circumstances
involved." He declined to elaborate.

While federal immigration law allows foreign students to work, it typically
restricts them to limited hours on campus or to a year of full-time work
after graduation if the job is related to the student's subject of study.
Exceptions can be made if the student encounters financial hardship.

Aljets said the case began in 1998 after police arrested Mahdi Alhmad, a
Saudi Arabian, for counterfeiting money in his home and circulating it in
the Winona area. Investigators then learned that he was working illegally
at Express Personnel. That discovery led to a broader investigation of the
firm that uncovered more allegedly illegal hires. Alhmad later was deported.

"I'm concerned that we found these types of irregularities in a company
that holds itself up as an expert in personnel resources," Aljets said.

In addition to illegally hiring 103 people, Express Personnel failed to
keep required records on more than 200 employees, the INS said.

The INS previously fined another Winona temporary agency, Pro Staff
Personnel Services, about $21,000 for a few similar violations, Aljets
said. The fine was reduced to $15,200 in a settlement with the government.

Express Personnel of Winona is among hundreds of separately owned Express
Personnel franchises in the nation.