{"id":21818,"date":"2019-08-08T16:43:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T20:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=21818"},"modified":"2019-08-08T16:43:50","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T20:43:50","slug":"worksite-enforcement-ice-illegal-alien-workers-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/08\/08\/worksite-enforcement-ice-illegal-alien-workers-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"The Effectiveness of Worksite Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 680 illegal aliens<\/a> in Mississippi as the result of a yearlong worksite enforcement investigation. The aliens all worked at agricultural processing plants and encompassed six different cities across the state. Contrast this to President Trump\u2019s July promise<\/a> to arrest thousands of aliens with outstanding orders of removal, only to net 35<\/a> in the actual operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does ICE not direct more resources and time to worksite, rather than at-large, enforcement? Very few companies<\/a> are ever punished for hiring illegal aliens. The researchers at Syracuse University\u2019s TRAC immigration project note<\/a> that \u201cactual prosecution of employers for employing immigrants without proper documentation actually has been relatively rare.\u201d Annual enforcement reports<\/a> show that ICE arrests few aliens as a result of worksite raids. A majority of their arrests arise from prior interactions with traditional law enforcement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not\nto say that ICE should stop prioritizing the arrest and removal of convicted\ncriminal aliens \u2013 far from it. Of the 158,581 administrative arrests ICE made\nin FY 2018, more than 138,000 had prior or pending criminal charges. That\nstrategy is certainly effective and gets dangerous criminal aliens out of our\ncommunities, but ICE can go further. Contrary to the narrative put forth by\nadvocacy groups and many politicians, an illegal alien need not have a criminal\nrecord in order to be arrested by ICE. Merely being in the United States\nwithout legal authorization is grounds for removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worksite enforcement succeeds beyond targeted and at-large enforcement in two major ways. First, worksite enforcement raids net significantly higher numbers of illegal aliens than regular raids. ICE searching a worksite known to have hundreds of alien workers will always be more successful than ICE pursuing a few dozen aliens in the streets of major cities. With more than 12.5 million illegal aliens<\/a> in the United States, every arrest matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, and\nperhaps most importantly, worksite enforcement serves as a deterrent against both\nemployers and aliens. Targeting individual aliens for arrest and removal\npresents an endless struggle as long as employers consider their businesses\nsafe from enforcement. Targeting worksites and arresting employers who\nknowingly hire illegal aliens is an important tool that would make other\ncompanies think twice about hiring illegal aliens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, if aliens realized that they could not find work because employers were too cautious of ICE\u2019s worksite enforcement, many would likely return home, and fewer would come. Aggressive worksite enforcement in this way mirrors the effectiveness of E-Verify<\/a>. It also gives ICE a unique way to bypass state and local sanctuary laws. Arresting hundreds of aliens employed at a processing facility, using federal agents in pursuit of a federal complaint, works around any restrictions that sanctuary legislation tries to throw in the way of enforcement.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent success of the Mississippi worksite raids should serve as a reminder to policymakers at ICE that worksite enforcement is an incredibly useful and effective, albeit underused, enforcement tool at their disposal. Worksite enforcement nets more arrests in one raid than traditional raids ever could. Prosecuting employers who hire illegal aliens will encourage their competitors and peers to avoid hiring illegal labor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasing,\nexpanding, and performing worksite enforcement ensures that ICE more\nefficiently fulfills its mission of enforcing federal immigration laws. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 680 illegal aliens in Mississippi as the result of a yearlong worksite enforcement investigation. The aliens all worked at agricultural processing plants and encompassed six different cities across the state. Contrast this to President Trump\u2019s July promise to arrest thousands of aliens with outstanding orders of removal, only<\/p>\n

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