Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

9/2/03  News Report -- The Rocky Mountain News (Colorado)

For 17 years, federal law has required employers to check the identification of new hires to ensure they're eligible to work legally in the United States.

They're supposed to look at Social Security cards, green cards, drivers licenses and keep copies on file in case federal authorities come knocking.

But a recent raid at the Air Force Academy, and a similar one last year at Denver International Airport, rounded up dozens of illegal workers suspected of faking Social Security numbers to work at those security-sensitive sites.

The raids underscore loopholes in the law that, as U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., puts it, allow employers "to weasel out when they hire illegals."

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was aimed at getting a grip on this country's illegal immigration and employment.

The law lists documents that employers must look over after hiring someone, but it doesn't require them to be detectives. As long as the paperwork appears to be legitimate, employers have done their duty and don't have to probe any further.

"It's a big problem," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies. "It guts the intent of the law."

Jim Chaparro, interim special agent in charge of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Denver, said investigators encounter many businesses that simply assume paperwork provided by workers is legitimate. But he also noted that employers could risk a discrimination complaint by inquiring about whether an applicant is in the country illegally.

"A vast majority of employers want to comply with the law," Chaparro said.

U.S. Attorney John Suthers said it's not the job of companies to investigate the background of applicants. But he's also suspicious of claims by some employers who say they're unaware their workers are in the country illegally.

"There's no question in my mind that some of them take these documents knowing full well that they are fraudulent," Suthers said.

Tancredo, a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, is planning a bill that would require employers to check with federal agencies to make sure documents are real and actually belong to the new hire.

Tancredo also wants employers to face stiffer penalties for hiring illegal workers.

In the three-state Colorado region, the highest fines since 1996 were not for hiring illegal immigrants but for failing to check identifications and keep records.

Nearly all those fined were in the metro area and most of the penalties were in the low thousands of dollars. Many company owners fined have either gone out of business or declined to comment on their experience. Immigration officials also can seek criminal charges against employers. But to do that authorities need to find egregious violations: helping workers obtain fraudulent documents, harboring illegal workers in squalid conditions and helping to smuggle immigrants to reach jobs that are waiting for them.

"If you're going to build a criminal case against employers, it's going to take a lot of time and resources," said Chaparro.

Since 1996 three such cases have been prosecuted, according to court records and immigration authorities.

A federal judge sentenced Juan Adame Sainz to 15 months in prison in 1999. Adame provided workers for farmers on the Western Slope and paid smugglers to bring immigrants to Colorado from Mexico.

In 2000 Blue Mountain Stone Inc., a rock quarry business in Lyons, was hit with a $150,000 fine for employing and harboring illegal workers. Raul Vasquez, a co-owner of the family-owned business, was ordered to spend three months of home detention and pay an $18,000 fine.

And last year Horacio Cuevas Mosqueda, who operated a Denver asbestos removal office, was ordered to spend 15 months in federal prison for employing and training undocumented workers.

But enforcement challenges go beyond the workplace, said Krikorian, whose group wants tougher immigration enforcement.

At the end of each year, all employers must send W2 tax forms to the Social Security Administration. Social Security then checks the information to ensure the names and Social Security numbers match up.

But Social Security is a record-keeping agency and can't go after employers who repeatedly have problems in their annual reports. Privacy laws also prevent it from sharing those problems with other agencies, such as Internal Revenue Service or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration agents also face other hurdles. Federal agents may conduct surprise inspections of employers only when there is suspicion of criminal activity and they obtain a search warrant, said Chaparro.

He said companies normally get three days' notice of an immigration audit - enough time to make sure they have all the documents in order.