New DHS Illegal Immigration Guidelines Focus on Employers

The Obama administration will reportedly release new guidelines today which will focus the issue of illegal immigration on employers that knowingly hire undocumented workers.

Although it is said that this is not a drastic shift from the policies under the Bush administration, these new guidelines will have officials building cases against the employers, according to media sources. During the Bush years, many illegal immigrants were arrested in workplace raids, but few of these arrests led to criminal cases against the employers.

The new Department of Homeland Security guidelines specifically mention that employers have not been punished severely enough for these infractions in the past.

“Enforcement efforts focused on employers better target the root causes of illegal immigration,” say the guidelines which were obtained by The New York Times. “[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE must prioritize the criminal prosecution of actual employers who knowingly hire illegal workers because such employers are not sufficiently punished or deterred by the arrest of their illegal work force.”

In February, ICE conducted a raid on a manufacturing plant in Washington state resulting in the arrest of 28 people. At the time Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said she was unaware that the raid would take place and called for an investigation into the matter. Earlier this month the workers were released.

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