ICE Touts Highest Worksite Arrests in Agency History

ICE Touts Highest Worksite Arrests in Agency History

TRUMP EFFECT

BREITBART

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 1,000 illegal alien workers and have uncovered sufficient evidence of immigration employment violations to justify the proposal of $1 million during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration. Robert Hammer, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations acting Executive Associate Director, says, “This is the highest rate of arrest in HSI’s history.”

Worksite enforcement actions were ended during the Biden administration under the direction of then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In an October 2021 memorandum ordering ICE to cease large-scale immigration worksite enforcement raids, Mayorkas criticized the use of the raids as an enforcement tool saying, “The deployment of mass worksite operations, sometimes resulting in the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of workers, was not focused on the most pernicious aspect of our country’s unauthorized employment challenge: exploitative employers.”

Mayorkas went on to say, “These highly visible operations misallocated enforcement resources while chilling, and even serving as a tool of retaliation for, worker cooperation in workplace standards investigations.”

In the past two months, under President Trump’s second term, the raids resumed, resulting in the arrest of 1,000 unauthorized workers, the levying of fines, and the seizure of properties and bank accounts. According to ICE Detroit Acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey, a civil complaint filed by ICE and the IRS against a Chinese money laundering organization has ordered the multimillion-dollar seizure of 14 properties, seven bank accounts, and 15 vehicles.

Commenting on the illegal worker aspect of the case, Murphey says, “ICE and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case, in which we allege the money laundering organization operated a staffing company to supply illegal workers to a factory in Ohio and harbored that illegal workforce.”

Under federal law, employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of applicants they hire. The information applicants provide to document their identification is recorded on an Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. As part of their compliance efforts, ICE employs an I-9 inspection program to address and deter illegal employment. Penalties for employing illegal alien workers can range from civil fines to criminal charges in instances involving engaging in a pattern of hiring illegal workers.

The current Trump administration is employing a whole-of-government approach to enforce the labor laws, deploying several federal law enforcement agencies to carry out the enforcement actions. In some cases, state and local law enforcement authorities are working in unison with the federal effort to stem the employment of illegal aliens and holding the employers accountable for the unlawful activity.

The enforcement actions are occurring throughout the United States, according to ICE…

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