June 3, 2008

Worksite Enforcement: Anatomy of a Case

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has significantly enhanced its efforts to combat the unlawful employment of illegal aliens in the United States. The agency’s strategy differs dramatically from the approach of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which focused on imposing civil fines on employers who hired illegal aliens. Today, ICE relies heavily on criminal prosecutions and the seizure of company assets to gain compliance from businesses that violate the employment provisions of our nation’s immigration laws.

Like other white collar crimes, ICE worksite enforcement cases can be complex and lengthy, sometimes requiring months or even years of follow-up investigation. In many instances, these cases not only involve violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), but frequently reveal a host of other crimes, such as alien smuggling, document fraud, identity theft, money laundering, and wage and labor violations.

The leads that spark a worksite investigation come from an array of sources - tips from the public, reports from a company’s current or former employees, even referrals from other law enforcement agencies. Cases involving national security or public safety implications receive top priority, as do investigations involving allegations of egregious worker exploitation, where the welfare of the employees may be at risk.

Once a lead is received, ICE agents employ a variety of techniques to investigate the allegations, including the use of undercover agents, confidential informants, cooperating defendants, and surveillance.

Often the most high-profile aspect of a worksite investigation involves the arrest of unauthorized employees or the execution of search warrants at a targeted business. But it is important to note that such a worksite operation represents only a piece of a broad investigation. While many believe that these operations mark the completion of the investigation, they do not. In fact often the investigation continues for weeks, months and even years following such an operation. Typically, during an operation, ICE agents are able to obtain additional evidence that was previously unavailable, and after the operation, they may spend months reviewing documents, interviewing more witnesses, and analyzing all of the seized evidence to determine whether the employer and its executives are criminally liable. And if the further investigation reveals criminal activity, the case will be presented to the appropriate federal or state authorities for prosecution.

Case Examples

The following examples show the complex and protracted nature of worksite enforcement cases.

Golden State Fence Company
In May 2004, ICE agents in San Diego, California, initiated an investigation into Golden State Fence Company (GSFC), a construction company that won a large federal contract in 1997 to build a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border fence. The former INS had documented the company’s continued hiring violations by issuing multiple “No-Hire” letters and repeatedly arresting unauthorized workers at GSFC job sites. A lengthy ICE investigation followed, including a thorough review of GSFC payroll records. In November 2005, ICE agents executed search warrants at two GSFC locations. During that operation, agents arrested 16 unauthorized workers for immigration violations. Subsequently, ICE agents developed evidence against several GSFC corporate officials. In 2006, GSFC’s owners were charged with knowingly hiring unauthorized aliens. In December 2006, 13 months after the execution of the search warrants, GSFC’s president, vice president, and the corporation itself pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring 10 or more unauthorized individuals. The three-year investigation culminated in March 2007, when the corporate officials were sentenced to three years of supervised probation and 180 days home confinement. The corporation also received five years corporate probation and assessed a $4.7 million in criminal forfeiture.

IFCO Systems
IFCO Systems (IFCO) is an international logistics provider with more than 50 locations in the United States. In February 2005, ICE agents received information that many IFCO employees were seen destroying their federal wage and tax Statements (W-2s) at the company’s branch in Guilderland, N.Y. ICE agents reviewed nearly 6,000 wage and earning statements from 2005 IFCO payroll records and compared the Social Security numbers provided by IFCO with records maintained by the Social Security Administration. After 14 months of investigation, ICE agents determined that more than half of IFCO’s workers were using invalid or mismatched Social Security numbers. In April 2006, ICE agents executed 11 federal search warrants and 41 consent searches at 48 IFCO job sites throughout the United States. During that enforcement action, agents took 1,187 illegal alien workers into custody for administrative immigration violations. In addition, six IFCO managers and two IFCO employees were arrested on criminal charges. Those subjects were charged with federal felony charges that included conspiracy to transport and harbor unlawful aliens for commercial advantage and visa fraud. ICE agents continued to investigate IFCO for another 22 months and obtained evidence leading to superseding indictments against five of the IFCO managers for felony conspiracy and the employment of illegal aliens. The investigation is still ongoing.

Rosenbaum-Cunningham International
In April 2005, ICE received information that Rosenbaum-Cunningham International (RCI), a janitorial company, employed many illegal aliens at a Michigan resort. After investigation revealed that an employee of a Michigan State employment office was supplying identity information to illegal aliens, ICE agents conducted an enforcement operation in February 2006 at the resort and arrested 23 RCI employees on immigration violations. Within a week, ICE agents executed search warrants at two RCI corporate offices in Florida and a consent search at the home of RCI’s accountant. That same week, ICE executed seizure warrants on RCI bank accounts. In May 2006, after reviewing the search warrant evidence and the company’s financial records, ICE agents established that RCI was harboring illegal aliens and seized additional company assets. In November 2006, the lead RCI supervisor at the Michigan resort was convicted of harboring illegal aliens and two other RCI supervisors were convicted of aiding and abetting the unlawful employment of aliens. In February 2007, after an exhaustive ICE-led undercover probe and grand jury testimony by several RCI employees, RCI’s President, Vice President and Comptroller were indicted for harboring illegal aliens, tax crimes and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The indictment also included forfeiture counts against RCI assets. In February 2007, ICE agents conducted another enforcement operation targeting 64 businesses with which RCI had business contracts. The operation led to the arrest of 196 illegal alien workers. In March 2008, almost three years after the investigation began, RCI’s president, vice president, and comptroller were sentenced to 120, 51 and 30 months in prison, respectively, for harboring illegal aliens and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

CMC Concrete Construction, Inc.
In April 2007, ICE received information regarding the employment of illegal alien workers at CMC Concrete Construction, Inc. (CMC) and its associate firm, Stonewall Concrete Construction (SCC) in Manassas, Va. CMC and SCC had been subcontracted to perform construction projects at government facilities, including the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., and the Army Base in Fort Meade, Md. According to the investigative source, CMC had a long history of hiring illegal aliens. Through surveillance, coordination with local law enforcement, and a careful review of state employment records, ICE agents developed substantial evidence that CMC and SCC were employing illegal aliens. In March 2008, ICE agents executed search warrants at CMC and SCC, arresting 34 illegal alien workers. During the searches, ICE agents also seized numerous boxes of evidence. ICE agents also performed forensic analysis on CMC’s and SCC’s computers. In April 2008, the owner of CMC and SCC pleaded guilty to unlawfully employing illegal aliens. The defendant was sentenced to one year probation and ordered to forfeit $122,000.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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