US Politics
So far only one company has been charged for using migrant workers despite Trump’s pledges for tough punishments
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The Trump administration has brought few apparent penalties against businesses employing undocumented immigrants, despite promising to use unprecedented enforcement actions against employers to break up the economic incentives for illegal immigration.
A Washington Post analysis found that just one business has faced charges from among the roughly two dozen the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has announced raiding.
In that case, stemming from a March operation, the manager of a San Diego powder coating business pleaded guilty earlier this month to a pattern of hiring undocumented immigrants, admitting to employing at least 10 people illegally.
The manager, John Washburn, was sentenced to a year of probation and 50 hours of community service, the Justice Department said.
ICE said in April it had subpoenaed records on about 1,200 business, netted the highest rate of worker arrests in its history, and proposed $1 million in fines related to workplace operations.
The apparently lax enforcement against employers comes despite promises of tough penalties for those hiring undocumented people.
The Department of Homeland Security has vowed there will be no “safe spaces” for employers illegally hiring undocumented people.
“You’re going to see more work site enforcement than you’ve ever seen in the history of this nation,” White House border czar Tom Homan said earlier this month. “We’re going to flood the zone.”
While few companies appear to have been hit with punishments scores of workers have been arrested.
Immigration raids have taken place at or near businesses across the country, ranging from restaurants and farm fields, to Home Depot parking lots around Los Angeles to a Louisiana race track. More than 55,000 people are estimated to currently be in immigration detention.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment on worksite enforcement levels, which deferred to the Department Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department, when asked about enforcement levels, provided the following statement: “Under President Trump and Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, the Department of Justice will enforce federal immigration laws and hold bad actors accountable when they employ illegal aliens in violation of federal law.”
In recent weeks, Trump, whose own businesses have been accused of illegally using migrant labor, has toyed with finding some sort of immigration compromise for businesses in hospitality and agriculture, which rely heavily on immigrant labor. But his immigration officials have insisted workplace raids will continue everywhere.
“We’re working on it right now. We’re going to work it so that some kind of a temporary pass where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control, as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away,” Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
