U.S. program will use employers to enforce immigration laws
A new federal immigration program that has been introduced by immigration authorities sets to encourage employers' refusal to hire illegal immigrants, including the reporting of them.
Employers that assist in the prevention of illegal immigrant work and in the assistance in capturing immigrants, will be given a clean bill of health on hiring by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
This program is planned as a response to the recent prosecutions of employers that hired illegal aliens. Federal criminal charges were filed against companies that ignored the necessary procedures in hiring immigrants, and some of the repeating violators of immigration laws have been put in jail. This has caused alarm among various employers, and has caused immigration officials to come up with a plan to protect law abiding employers.
According to this immigration program, Companies will be marked as clean hirers only after verifying no illegal immigrants are included among the company's work force. Among the procedures for the hiring certification, companies will need to submit employee records to the immigration authorities. These logs will be compared with the Basic Pilot Employment Verification Program, which confirms the legitimacy and authenticity of the employee's records.
Using training courses offered by immigration officers, company staff will also receive the proper training in verifying their worker's papers, and will learn how to check whether a green card is authentic or not, for example.
The program was first pushed forward by worried companies, wanting to ensure they do not get prosecuted by the government, says Julie L. Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
David Thompson, the publicist for Americagreencard.org, says many green card lottery companies are expected to benefit from the rise in US company awareness to the legality of their workers.
"I am not sure the majority of companies will adopt this program, but it is certainly a step in the right direction toward enforcing green card possession."
