A company accused of encouraging hundreds to illegally enter the United States and then hiring them using fake Social Security numbers has agreed to pay the largest settlement ever in a workplace immigration bust.
IFCO Systems North America, a pallet and crate company, will pay a $20.7 million settlement, which includes $18.1 million in fines and $2.6 million for overtime violations, the Department of Justice said.
In early 2006, immigration officials raided 45 IFCO sites, arresting almost 1,200 low-level workers. Federal officials also charged several managers, accusing them of using “as a business model the systematic violation of United States law.”
To date, nine IFCO managers and employees have pleaded guilty to criminal conduct, the Justice Department said. Four managers are awaiting trial on felony charges and the investigation is continuing, it said.
IFCO records suggests that as many as 6,000 illegal immigrants worked at company plants from 2003 to 2006, the Justice Department said.
I was under the impression that “systematic violation of United States law” was the new paradigm.
#19 Actually, Fusion is agreeing with Paddy & me.
When ordering a dozen pallets, do you get a pallet with twelve pallets sitting on it, or do you get eleven new pallets and one used pallet?
bobbo, it still contradicts your overall point. If he is dumping private contractors, then that’s more hiring by the government. I just don’t think the construction guys will be affected.
Shut ‘em down and put the execs in prison where they can have their butts packed with someone else’s turd.
#23–Mike==I understand the point you are confusing. Sadly, it is “context.” The term “private contracting” arises primarily in the context of the repuglican practice of taking a traditional government service, like National Defense, and paying private contractors, like Blackwater, 10 times what it would cost to provide the same service by government employees. It is NOT ABOUT stopping traditional government provided services and benefits like a PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM that doesn’t fall down. Yes, the alternative is NO GOVERNMENT SPENDING on roads, toll roads everywhere you go. Is that what you want????
The other side of expecting a “free” government handout is the faulty notion that any of us could afford paying the for profit bonuses if everything was provided per the free market.
Public Health, Water, Electricity==etc. I think we are all better off having the government hire people to provide these services.
Simply Madoff to suggest otherwise.
#20–dreull==I doubt a labor force that sends millions of its slave wages back to Mexico helps the American Economy at all. “Society” is a larger “context” than minimum wage, consumer prices, and tax revenue. Its called “quality of life” and there isn’t much of that with illegal wage slaves. Difficult to put hard dollar analysis on that many variable though.
#20
> Bobo, unless you want
> to work for a minimum
> wage job it doesn’t
> hurt you.
Is that the criteria now: if it doesn’t impact me directly then its ok? We should simply ignore the other Americans that might take those jobs but are not given the chance because of the additional paperwork of hiring legal workers, right?
Rather than making criminals out of people trying to get a job we should either enforce the minimum wage and immigration laws or dispense with them. Encouraging selective enforcement is absolutely the wrong solution. Bringing the hammer down on companies that employ illegal workers is the right solution.
#26, Thomas,
Bringing the hammer down on companies that employ illegal workers is the right solution.
So is bringing the hammer down on companies that purposefully flaunt labor laws. That would include minimum wage violations, unsafe health conditions, failing to remit employee deductions, and sex, age, race, and religion discrimination.
Note, I said “purposefully”. That doesn’t include accidental one incident activities.
#27
I agree. Otherwise, why have the laws if we are not going to enforce them?
#26 God, why people are so clueless. The crime is not trying to get a job. The crime is getting into a country illegally.
And don’t come telling me that my position is the same as those lameasses getting advantage of these immigratory criminals.
#29, peehead,
You must be a lameass that doesn’t understand the problem.
They do enter the country illegally.
They use stolen ID and SSNs to work. This ends up causing all kinds of problems for the innocent person who’s ID was used.
They drive down wages making legal Americans work for less.
They take jobs causing legal Americans to have higher unemployment.
While I favor Universal Healthcare, it still stands that illegal workers don’t pay their medical bills and have caused several hospital emergency rooms to close because of the overwhelming debt and others to absorb the costs of extended treatment.
Local facilities are required to supply illegals with education, fire protection, and police services. This extra demand is crippling many localities.
They commit an extraordinary amount of crime, including violent crime, causing an increasing demand on our prison population.
As usual you have no idea what illegal immigration has done to the American economy.