Cornell University
Library
Cornell UniversityLibrary

eCommons

Help
Log In(current)
DigitalCollections@ILR
ILR School
  1. Home
  2. ILR School
  3. Library
  4. Catherwood Library
  5. Key Workplace Documents
  6. Federal Publications
  7. Federal Publications
  8. Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

File(s)
CRS_Immigration_Related_workplace_enforcement_0813.pdf (297.48 KB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/77841
Collections
Federal Publications
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs
Author
Bruno, Andorra
Abstract

In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new guidance on immigration- related worksite enforcement. Under the guidelines, DHS “will use all available civil and administrative tools, including civil fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment.” According to 2010 estimates, there are some 8.0 million unauthorized workers in the U.S. civilian labor force. DHS’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for immigration-related worksite enforcement, or enforcement of the prohibitions on unauthorized employment in Section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The INA Section 274A provisions, sometimes referred to as employer sanctions, make it unlawful for an employer to knowingly hire, recruit or refer for a fee, or continue to employ an alien who is not authorized to be so employed. Today, ICE’s worksite enforcement program is focused primarily on cases that involve critical infrastructure facilities and cases involving employers who commit “egregious violations” of criminal statutes and engage in worker exploitation. Employers who violate INA prohibitions on the unlawful employment of aliens may be subject to civil monetary penalties and/or criminal penalties. Criminal investigations may result in defendants being charged with crimes beyond unlawful employment and being subject to the relevant penalties for those violations. Various measures are available to examine the performance of ICE’s worksite enforcement program. They include Final Orders for civil monetary penalties, administrative fines, administrative arrests, criminal arrests, criminal indictments and convictions, and criminal fines and forfeitures. In addition to examining annual changes and trends in the various performance measure data, these data can be considered in relation to the estimated size of the unauthorized workforce or the potential number of employers employing these workers. When considered in this context, ICE’s worksite enforcement program can seem quite limited. Enforcement activity by the Department of Labor (DOL) is also relevant to a discussion of federal efforts to curtail unauthorized employment. DOL, which is responsible for enforcing minimum wage, overtime pay, and related requirements, focuses a significant percentage of its enforcement resources on low-wage industries that employ large numbers of immigrant—and presumably large numbers of unauthorized—workers.

Date Issued
2013-08-07
Keywords
immigration
•
enforcement
•
Department of Homeland Security
•
DHS
•
illegal workers
Related To
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/77896
Type
government record

Site Statistics | Help

About eCommons | Policies | Terms of use | Contact Us

copyright © 2002-2026 Cornell University Library | Privacy | Web Accessibility Assistance