luckystrike
Rookie
- May 25, 2011
- 108
- 2
- 0
- Banned
- #1
TUCSON Obama administration officials are sharpening their crackdown on the hiring of illegal immigrants by focusing increasingly tough criminal charges on employers while moving away from criminal arrests of the workers themselves.
After months of criticism from Republicans who said President Obama was relaxing immigration enforcement in workplaces, the scope of the administrations strategy has become clear as long-running investigations of employers have culminated in indictments, convictions, exponentially increased fines and jail sentences. While conducting fewer headline-making factory raids, the immigration authorities have greatly expanded the number of businesses facing scrutiny and the cases where employers face severe sanctions.
In a break with Bush-era policies, the number of criminal cases against unauthorized immigrant workers has dropped sharply over the last two years.
Among the employers who have felt the impact of the administrations tactics are two owners of Mexican restaurants in the Chuys Mesquite Broiler chain, which are popular for their laid-back Margaritaville mood and their broiled mahi tacos. On April 20, immigration agents descended on 14 Chuys restaurants in coordinated raids in Arizona and California, detaining kitchen workers and carrying away boxes of payroll books and other evidence.
But at the arraignment days later in federal court here, no immigrant workers stood before the judge. The only criminal defendants were the owners, Mark Evenson and his son Christopher, and an accountant who worked with them, Diane Ingrid Strehlow. If the Evensons are convicted on all charges against them of tax fraud and harboring illegal workers, they each could face more than 80 years in jail.
Of 42 illegal immigrants caught in the Chuys sweep, only one was charged with a crime, and it was not related to the raid. Thirteen workers were processed for immigration violations which are civil offenses and detained or deported. The others remained in this country as witnesses or to seek legal status through the immigration courts.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/us/politics/30raid.html?_r=1&hp
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Going after employers is not enough. Attack any group or person that gives these invaders aid. We are at war with Latin America. They must be made to remove their soldiers from the United States or else.
After months of criticism from Republicans who said President Obama was relaxing immigration enforcement in workplaces, the scope of the administrations strategy has become clear as long-running investigations of employers have culminated in indictments, convictions, exponentially increased fines and jail sentences. While conducting fewer headline-making factory raids, the immigration authorities have greatly expanded the number of businesses facing scrutiny and the cases where employers face severe sanctions.
In a break with Bush-era policies, the number of criminal cases against unauthorized immigrant workers has dropped sharply over the last two years.
Among the employers who have felt the impact of the administrations tactics are two owners of Mexican restaurants in the Chuys Mesquite Broiler chain, which are popular for their laid-back Margaritaville mood and their broiled mahi tacos. On April 20, immigration agents descended on 14 Chuys restaurants in coordinated raids in Arizona and California, detaining kitchen workers and carrying away boxes of payroll books and other evidence.
But at the arraignment days later in federal court here, no immigrant workers stood before the judge. The only criminal defendants were the owners, Mark Evenson and his son Christopher, and an accountant who worked with them, Diane Ingrid Strehlow. If the Evensons are convicted on all charges against them of tax fraud and harboring illegal workers, they each could face more than 80 years in jail.
Of 42 illegal immigrants caught in the Chuys sweep, only one was charged with a crime, and it was not related to the raid. Thirteen workers were processed for immigration violations which are civil offenses and detained or deported. The others remained in this country as witnesses or to seek legal status through the immigration courts.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/us/politics/30raid.html?_r=1&hp
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Going after employers is not enough. Attack any group or person that gives these invaders aid. We are at war with Latin America. They must be made to remove their soldiers from the United States or else.