USWorkVisa.com News Archive
for the ‘ICE’ Category

In April, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested hundreds of undocumented workers, including more than 300 workers at Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plants in five states who are suspected of committing identity theft and other criminal violations to obtain their jobs.

ICE special agents also detained 45 undocumented workers at 10 sites and arrested 11 individuals for conspiring to harbor undocumented workers who were smuggled into the U.S. to work in Mexican restaurants in four states. This operation involved approximately 130 ICE agents and 30 state and local law enforcement officers and began in May 2006.

ICE agents interviewed roughly 100 employees at a resort in Leesburg, Virginia. Agents arrested 53 immigration status violators and another six were apprehended outside the facility. The 59 workers are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. All face removal proceedings.

Details on the arrests are available at the DHS website.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is implementing, effective February 29, 2008, the “ICE Pattern Analysis and Information Collection System” (ICEPIC). The system is intended to assist investigators by “identifying suspect identities and discovering possible non-obvious relationships among individuals and organizations” to discover violations of customs and immigration laws as well as possible terrorist threats or plots, according to a DHS report. The databases, which ICE declined to identify specifically, include those that track foreign students and visitors, immigrants, criminals and suspected terrorists. “All ICEPIC activity is associated with ongoing and valid law enforcement investigations,” the report noted.

A confirmation vote in the Senate for Julie Myers to direct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not yet been scheduled. Concerns about her inexperience reportedly have subsided, but the outcome remains uncertain. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) continues to have concerns and is consulting with members before deciding how to proceed, according to a spokesperson. Ms. Myers recently found herself criticized for honoring an employee with a “Most Original Costume” award who was wearing a controversial costume at ICE’s Halloween party.

In a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, “Immigration Enforcement: ICE Could Improve Controls to Help Guide Alien Removal Decision Making,” the GAO found that the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun to update and enhance training curricula to better support officer decision-making but that the agency has not taken steps to ensure that written guidance to promote the appropriate exercise of discretion during apprehension and removal is comprehensive and up to date and has not established time frames for updating guidance. For example, the GAO noted, field operational manuals have not been updated to provide information about the appropriate exercise of discretion in light of a recent expansion of ICE worksite enforcement and fugitive operations, in which officers are more likely to encounter persons with humanitarian issues or who are not targets of investigations. Also, ICE does not have a mechanism to ensure the timely dissemination of information on legal developments that would enable officers to make decisions in line with the most recent interpretations of immigration law. As a result, the GAO said, ICE officers are “at risk of taking actions that do not support operational objectives and making removal decisions that do not reflect the most recent legal developments.”

The GAO recommended that ICE update its guidance to include factors officers should consider when making apprehension and removal decisions and establish time frames for this task; ensure that officers are provided timely information on legal developments affecting their decisions; and evaluate the costs and alternatives for developing a mechanism to analyze officer decision-making systematically. The Department of Homeland Security agreed and identified actions ICE plans to take to implement the GAO’s recommendations. The report, GAO-08-67, is available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0867.pdf.

Most American employers are quite familiar with the first provision of the Immigration
Reform and Control Act of 1986, which specifically prohibits the hiring, recruitment or referral of an alien not authorized to legally work in the United States. A much lesser-known provision, provision four, outlining the use of labor through contractors, subcontractors or exchanges is now obscure no more, having been brought to the forefront of public attention thanks to a landmark settlement involving Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. [Read more…]

To read more of this article, please click here to download the PDF entitled, “Scrutinize Contractor Hires To Avoid Wal-mart Problem”