Company Targeted by ICE Resulting in Fines of $450,000
Posted Oct 16, 2009
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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a September 15, 2009 press release announcing $450,000 in fines against a Missouri company for hiring undocumented foreign workers. This was part of long-standing enforcement efforts against George's Processing Inc. (GPI), a poultry-processing company. Investigation of GPI included a raid by ICE agents in May 2007, during which 136 undocumented workers from Mexico and Guatemala were arrested. An account of this immigration raid was included in a May 23, 2007 ICE press release.
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Company Charged with Fraud and Identity Theft
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ICE cooperated with the U.S. Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General (SSA-OIG) in executing two criminal search warrants during the 2007 raid. During the two years leading up to the raid, ICE and the U.S. Department of Justice obtained convictions of four former GPI employees on changes of Social Security fraud, false claims of U.S. citizenship, and aggravated identity theft. Soon after a fifth GPI employee was indicted on related charges, ICE and SSA-OIG obtained subpoenas for the search of the GPI plant in Butterfield, MO.
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Company's I-9s Lead to Criminal Charges
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Following the ICE and SSA-OIG raid, five additional former employees of GPI each pleaded guilty to making a false claim of U.S. citizenship, aggravated identity theft, and misuse of a Social Security number. These convictions were announced in a September 10, 2007 ICE press release. Evidence of false claims of U.S. citizenship and misuse of Social Security numbers are likely to be found in Forms I-9 that are completed by individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States. Forms I-9, along with hiring, payroll and other human resource records, are usually seized by federal agents during workplace raids.
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Seven Members of Company's Management Charged
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Subsequent to the convictions of employees in September 2007, a federal grand jury issued indictments against seven of GPI's management-level employees. These employees were charged with crimes including the hiring and harboring of undocumented workers for commercial advantage or private financial gain. As explained in ICE's October 17, 2007 press release, these seven individuals were employed as supervisors, managers, human resource specialists, or were otherwise involved in GPI's hiring and employment process.
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Cooperation Between Federal Agencies
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ICE and SSA-OIG worked with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri in investigating and charging these workers, supervisors, and managers. ICE and SSA-OIG were joined in the May 2007 raid by officers and agents of the Missouri Highway Patrol, U.S. Marshals Service's Fugitive Taskforce, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Case Ends with $450,000 Fine
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In October 2007, the federal prosecutor handling the investigation of GPI vowed to continue bringing charges against the company, which has 4,000 workers in its Missouri, Virginia, and Arkansas plants. Nearly two years later, ICE issued a September 15, 2009 press release announcing that GPI agreed to pay a $450,000 fine to resolve this investigation. In resolving the case, GPI also agreed to train its HR managers and employees on how to prevent the hiring of undocumented workers and to institute a new corporate compliance program. While GPI did not admit any corporate wrong-doing in agreeing to pay this fine, the sheer size of the fine should serve as a cautionary tale to businesses / corporations, their executives, managers, and HR personnel improper hiring practices, and failure to comply with Forms I-9 requirements can result in severe fines.
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Conclusion
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We at Murthy Law Firm bring this investigation to our readers' attention to emphasize the U.S. government's ongoing strategy to dramatically increase the level of scrutiny of I-9s, H1B public access files, and other immigration-related company records. No U.S. employer is immune from investigation. Each must recognize the responsibility of ensuring that Forms I-9 are properly completed and that no unauthorized workers are hired for or retained in employment. The Murthy Law Firm is available to consult on proper procedures and to conduct internal audits of your company's records BEFORE the government decides to investigate. We also will continue to monitor federal compliance efforts to keep our readers informed of these important matters.