Immigration agency targets N.J. businesses

Immigration officials in the past 10 months have warned 25 businesses in New Jersey that they may face fines if they failed to ensure that their employees are eligible to work in the U.S., said Harold Ort, the spokesman for the Newark office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Five of the businesses that received a warning, or a notice of intent to fine, are in Bergen or Passaic counties, the officials said. They would provide no more specifics.

The 25 companies, noted Ort, included some that had been audited in earlier years. He said that more detailed information was not readily available. (In the same 10 months, 34 companies received notices that they were going to be audited.)

Violations of employment record keeping, Ort said, include failure to properly prepare what is known as Form I-9, which requires employers to verify a prospective employee’s eligibility.

The companies face fines totaling roughly $1.25 million, he said, again declining to identify them.

“Fine amounts may vary — $110 to $1,100 per violation — depending on mitigating and aggravating factors in a particular case,” Ort said.

Last year, ICE’s top officials in Washington, D.C., said the audits signaled a shift in the agency’s crackdown on illegal immigration. That shift pivots on a more aggressive effort to identify and penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants, immigration officials say. Under George W. Bush’s administration, immigration worksite enforcement often involved raids in which illegal workers were arrested and deported.

In the federal fiscal year 2009, which began in October 2008, 30 companies in the state received audit notices, seven of them in Bergen and Passaic counties. In that same period, five employers received a Notice of Intent to Fine, but none was in Bergen or Passaic, Ort added.

Between October and the end of May nationwide, ICE issued more than 1,500 audit notices; warnings about possible fines for violations were sent to more than 200 employers.

In fiscal 2009, more than 1,400 employers received audit notices, with 172 getting warnings about apparent violations and fines.

Immigration officials say tips from other government agencies and from the public are among the ways they target employers for audits.

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com

Five of the businesses that received a warning, or a notice of intent to fine, are in Bergen or Passaic counties, the officials said. They would provide no more specifics.

The 25 companies, noted Ort, included some that had been audited in earlier years. He said that more detailed information was not readily available. (In the same 10 months, 34 companies received notices that they were going to be audited.)

Violations of employment record keeping, Ort said, include failure to properly prepare what is known as Form I-9, which requires employers to verify a prospective employee’s eligibility.

The companies face fines totaling roughly $1.25 million, he said, again declining to identify them.

“Fine amounts may vary — $110 to $1,100 per violation — depending on mitigating and aggravating factors in a particular case,” Ort said.

Last year, ICE’s top officials in Washington, D.C., said the audits signaled a shift in the agency’s crackdown on illegal immigration. That shift pivots on a more aggressive effort to identify and penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants, immigration officials say. Under George W. Bush’s administration, immigration worksite enforcement often involved raids in which illegal workers were arrested and deported.

In the federal fiscal year 2009, which began in October 2008, 30 companies in the state received audit notices, seven of them in Bergen and Passaic counties. In that same period, five employers received a Notice of Intent to Fine, but none was in Bergen or Passaic, Ort added.

Between October and the end of May nationwide, ICE issued more than 1,500 audit notices; warnings about possible fines for violations were sent to more than 200 employers.

In fiscal 2009, more than 1,400 employers received audit notices, with 172 getting warnings about apparent violations and fines.

Immigration officials say tips from other government agencies and from the public are among the ways they target employers for audits.