Another Big ICE Bust In Northern Virginia
By Greg L | 8 April 2008 | Loudoun County, Illegal Aliens, Blogs | 61 Comments
Fifty-nine illegal aliens were arrested at a “luxury resort” in Leesburg this morning, according to a statement from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agent in charge of these investigations made reference to newly enhanced enforcement efforts, and coming less than a month after another workplace enforcement action in Prince William County, perhaps there’s something to this.
Companies that use cheap, illegal alien labor as a business model should be on notice that ICE is dramatically enhancing its enforcement efforts against illegal employment schemes.
The proof here, of course depends on the degree to which ICE prosecutes the business for accepting obviously fraudulent documents that were so bad it caught the attention of the bureau back in 2007. If they let the company off the hook here, claiming that they’re not responsible for figuring out that Social Security Numbers such as 123-45-6789 and 000-00-0000 (very common “no-match” numbers which might have been used here), the message to employers is going to be that business as usual can pretty much continue. Some fines, and better yet some prison time, and this will send shock waves. A number of enforcement actions in Virginia have come down pretty hard on employers, and continuing that will start making employers think twice.
As part of ongoing efforts to secure our nation’s borders through the discharge of interior law enforcement missions, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents executed an enforcement action at the luxurious northern Virginia resort.
This morning, ICE agents interviewed roughly 100 employees that resulted in the arrest of 53 immigration status violators working at the resort. Two females were released at the site for humanitarian concerns. Another six where apprehended outside of the facility bringing the total to 59.
This investigation started in early July 2007 after a routine inspection of all I-9 employment forms at the resort.
Through the expert analysis of the I-9 forms, ICE agents identified information that led them to suspect that many of the employees were using fraudulent documents or had stolen someone else’s identity to secure employment at the resort. The investigation is still ongoing.
The 59 men and woman are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, and all face removal proceedings.
If I was an employer in Northern Virginia who depended on cheap illegal alien labor, I’d be concerned.
UPDATE: NBC4 is reporting this happened at the Lansdowne Resort, and that the resort is largely being let off the hook: “Agents said that, although Lansdowne faces fines, it will not be charged criminally and is cooperating.”
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I assume this was landsdowne? We should all boycott them because I know damn well they aren’t passing the savings on to the customer there. These businesses need to be publicly shamed and shunned and until that happens I don’t see this problem being solved. The solution, however gratifying it may be, is not to start roundups and deport them. The solution is completely and utterly going after the businesses that hire them and making major examples out of them. 2 or 3 major landscaping companies and a few contracting companies going bankrupt due to fines and owners going to prison would take care of this problem pretty quickly. After that we can round up the illegals who haven’t left yet of their own accord.
This is just a ruse by the Bush Administration to make repubs look good on immigration. The intention is to help McCain get elected. Once in office, it will be business as usual.
What is wrong with this picture? The fact that it seems like they are not going to file criminal charges against the business (again). The business is more guilty of commiting a crime by hiring these people.
ICE Bust? It sounds like someone broke an ice sculpture! LOL
(Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
It sure sounds like “window dressing” to me.
The Feds. don’t want to enforce the laws,…..I’ll bet in a couple weeks, there’ll be 59 more illegals working in the same place.
I fully agree that the employers should be prosecuted and thrown in jail.
I agree park’d. It is time to HAMMER businesses who knowingly hire illegals which displace legal workers,be they citizens or legal immigrants. I do not presume to know the wages but if this business did pay wages not in compliance with Federal Wage laws, then they should be prosecuted by Virginia and the IRS.
Still, the big lose of “employees” will hurt them good.
I know the lefties will cry for the families broken up but this is not the fault of ICE but of employers who seek these folks usually through lower wages, no health certificates, little training all the while taking advantage of their position (illegal) and paying less or under the table and padding their pockets.
I once heard a roofer (in Atlantic City) bashing Bush, praising Clinton, all this before 9/11, while bragging on hiring illegals because they will work 14 hours for $10 an hour. Yep, he was a good tough American bragging how he could undercut his competition.
Ship the employers to the south along with the illegals. Then when they try to get back in (without passports), no dice.
Wonder if they’ll be able to get some Americans out to work on the beautiful golfcourse at Landsdowne or clean their beautiful indoor swimming pool, or work in the beautiful dining room which, I suppose, has a kitchen where pots and pans and dishes are washed. I sure hope so.
Businesses are getting away with too much.
Isn’t it stupid to destroy your own economy because you can’t stand pressing 1 for english…
I just saw the news release on NBC as well and was completely appalled that there won’t be criminal charges against Landsdowne. You can’t tell me that those HR folks in that hotel (or whomever handled the employment documents) didn’t know when there was shifty looking info or missing documentation. I know I always had to provide my actual SS card and driver’s license during the initial hiring to prove I was legally employable. Just blatant disregard for our laws by our own government. Disgusting.
The employer is only required to complete Form I-9 and review the specified documents. An employer is not required to be an expert in indentifying false documents. If an employer maintains a Form I-9 for every employee, then it’s difficult to prove that they violated the law.
Just like assuming that a brown skinned man who works for a living is a criminal, assuming that this resort violated the law (without any evidence to support your accusation) is ignorant and shows blatant disrespect for the Constitutional principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
El Guapo,
Are you a Red Sox fan? They had a relief pitcher who’s nickname was El Guapo back a few year. Means “handsome one”
The employer of the workmen doing painting around my condo complex didn’t even seem to know what an I-9 form was the other day when I questioned him about it and asked if he employed people legally here in our country. He even walked away while I was asking him questions. Then his men left when I mentioned ICE. And when people say that they are just doing the jobs others won’t do, the job was bid on by several companies and of course the bid that won was the lowest bid.
Park’d is right. The lack of penalties and sanctions on the businesses who support this type of criminal behavior is apalling. It’s akin to making all speeding tickets $1, and wondering why people are dying in ctrashes caused by speeders.
The businesses play ignorant to the fact that the aliens have stolen ID’s, committed fraud and they turn a blind eye.
EVERY BUSINESS IN OUR AREA SHOULD BE REPORTED TO ICE IF SUSPECTED OF OVERLOOKING FRAUD TO HIRE ILLEGAL ALIENSq
Krutis said:
“Wonder if they’ll be able to get some Americans out to work on the beautiful golfcourse at Landsdowne or clean their beautiful indoor swimming pool, or work in the beautiful dining room which, I suppose, has a kitchen where pots and pans and dishes are washed.”
Of course they will, Krutis, but Landsdowne will have to pay a reasonable rate to get it done…or perhaps some summer work for teenagers…or perhaps a steady job for an American who elected against college or tech school just entering the workforce. This nonsense about “…they’re just doing work that Americans won’t do” is just that, absolute nonsense. Americans will do the work OR technology will be developed to do what Americans (for a good wage) wish not to do.
El Guapo -
But the employer is supposed to have the I-9 on file. The documents must appear genuine. If the SSNO really reads 123-45-6789 - or 000-00-0000 that does not appear genuine. You do not need to be a document examiner to know that.
Now - it ICE have been reviewing the I-9 forms since July 2007, and it is only now that they realize that there is a problem with repeating SSNO’s - there is the other crime that is ocurring here.
http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/form_i9_employment_eligibility.html
I make assumptions too.
Pat.Herve says that the SSN reads 123-45-6789. I’m assuming that Pat.Herve has absolutely no evidence to support that. I’m assuming that Pat.Herve has absolutely no evidence that could lead to a conviction of the employer. I’m assuming that Pat.Herve is aware of the principle of presumption of innocence but just chooses to ignore it when convenient.
“Through the expert analysis of the I-9 forms, ICE agents identified information that led them to suspect that many of the employees were using fraudulent documents or had stolen someone else’s identity ..”
An “expert analysis”. Even after the expert analysis they only suspected that false documents were being used. What audacity you have to expect the employer to determine document validity when an expert can only suspect that they are fraudulent!
You decline to hire someone because you suspect that the documents are false, and you’ve got a lawsuit on your hands. It’s happened before.
Two women were released for “humanitarian” reasons; i.e., pregnant or small anchor babies.
Katie Couric on Channel 9 is presenting a series on “immigration nation.” The first of the series is a Mexican woman interviewed in a TX hospital after her baby was delivered by C-Section (at no cost to her).
She said she and her husband and two daughters decided to sneak into the country when she was 6 months pregnant, knowing once her baby was born in America, the family was less likely to be targeted for deportation.
When asked if she understood why American tax payers are upset that they are paying the hospital bills for illegal aliens, she said she did not understand and prayed God would change the way Americans think.
Humanitarian or Gotcha?
It was reported on WMAL this morning that most of the illegals caught in the raid at the cement plant on Wellington road recently were let go with A PROMISE THAT THEY WOULD LEAVE THE COUNTRY. They (WMAL) also reported that most of them didn’t know what they were signing and thought they could go about their business after being released. Does anyone really think they are going to leave the country? Bet the same situation ends up with the illegals caught at “the luxury resort.” CATCH AND RELEASE IS ALIVE AND WELL!
Krutis said on 8 Apr 2008 at 11:02 pm:
Wonder if they’ll be able to get some Americans out to work on the beautiful golfcourse at Landsdowne or clean their beautiful indoor swimming pool, or work in the beautiful dining room which, I suppose, has a kitchen where pots and pans and dishes are washed. I sure hope so.
Businesses are getting away with too much.
My office held a Christmas luncheon there when it first opened. We had one waitress for 25 people. She also handled the drink orders. What a disaster!
el guapo,
it’s not illegal to hire someone who cannot produce the proper documentation, please cite the lawsuits you mention if you’re going to quote them. Producing correct documentation is a part of the employment process. If the person cannot produce or produces documents that the employer thinks are false then it’s up to them to verify. If they cannot verify or still otherwise believe they are false, they CAN decide that it’s in their best interest not to hire the person. I WOULD like to see those lawsuits you are talking about as I think your argument is bogus and unsubstantiated.
illegal usuage of SSN numbers happen all the time, I’m an example since an illegal alien made up my SSN and attempted to use it, luckily for me he got caught in a raid and hopefully he’s back on his side of the border by now.
if you use e-verify you dont have to worry, it takes care of verifying the person. If an employer suspects a person is illegal they dont have to hire them, the employer doesnt have to hire anyone.
sorry,
I ment “to not hire” vice “hire”
josh
Another 59 criminals we do not have to worry about. All of them broke at least three laws in the process of their employment, so for those that defend these criminals, you can’t say they are otherwise law abiding.
The business needs to get in serious trouble for this. They knew what they were doing and the knew it was illegal.
This is why they need to go and take their kids with them!!
http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=6220
El Guano: E-Verify would solve the sniff test problem for I-9 docs, so that’s what needed in addition to about 5,000 buses pacjked with illegals heading south.
Lansdowne is managed by Benchmark Hospitality who employs the workers, and is owned by LaSalle Hotel Properties, Inc. of Bethesda.
Josh wrote: “it’s not illegal to hire someone who cannot produce the proper documentation”
This is false. The law requires that the employer complete Form I-9 and review documents. Said documents must be produced by the employee.
Lawsuits: In 2002, the Department of Justice brought a discrimination lawsuit against Swift & Co. for excessively scrutinizing documents of individuals who looked or sounded “foreign.”
Is this the same Swift & Co. that operates a meat packing facility in the US? Weren’t they raided by ICE a year or two ago?
The SAVE ACT will help with the forging of documents. Support the SAVE ACT NOW.
There has to be consequences for the actions if there is to be any solution. Structure and discipline have to be put into place or there will be chaos.
OK, to solve our issue:
1) Penalize employers who do not verify their employees.
This will remove the carrot for the illegal alien to cross the border. A fine should be imposed, not a 10k fine, but something with teeth in it, like 250k per day per employee. This will give consequences for hiring illegal aliens.
2) Continue to enforce current laws and resolutions.
Believe it or not, PWC is not the only county to adopt a resolution for illegal aliens. It is happening all over the country and will continue until the situation is better.
3) Fix the 14th amendment
This amendment has been misinterpreted by the USSC and needs to be fixed immediately. It is not to grant automatic citizenship to those born here of parents that are not US citizens. It was created to give blacks citizenship after slavery was abolished.
4) Increase funding for ICE immediately.
This will allow more illegal aliens to be deported.
With these few items taken care of, the illegal alien issue we have will be taken care of. You say, but Medic, where is your fence? I say no need for a fence if you take away the incentives to be here illegally. This helps the groups that are complaining the fence will cause environmental problems.
Now, we can go along the proposed route above OR we can go S.T.A.R.F.A.G. (Selected Termination And Reassignment For Affected Groups), the choice is yours.
If, and I say IF we are to allow a path to citizenship, then the following needs to be put into place:
1) No one that has been in the country for less than 5 years gets citizenship. You must prove that EVERY individual has been present in the country for over 5 years for them to stay. Those with less than 5 years (excluding children of those who have been here for 5+ years) have to go back and come here through the proper channels. This includes those with children. NO ONE is exempt because you will have to exempt others for various reasons. You will be notified in advance that you have a certain amount of time to gather your personal items and close any business you may have with others and move back to where you came from. If you are caught and can not prove you have been here for more than five years from a certain date, then you will be deported immediately without cause. You will not be given any way to collect your belongings and everyone in your home will be deported with you (consequences for actions).
2) If you have been here for 5 years or more, you will pay a “penalty” for each year you have been here. The longer you have been here, the less penalty you will have to pay.
3) After the “penalty” has been paid, you will be required to pass the citizenship test. You will have 1 year from the implementation of the new policy to pass this test. If you do not pass this test, please see rule 1.
4) All males over the age of 18 will be required to register with the selective service.
I am sure there are other items that will fit here, but you see the general outline. There will be consequences for those who do not want to follow the immigration policy, which helps with the enforcement of it and helps reduce the amount of illegal aliens crossing the border.
jfk: Swift & Co went above and beyond the requirements of the law. Managers tried to be good citizens. They got sued for being too diligent. The only way for an illegal alien to get a job at Swift & Co was to steal an actual identity - merely a fake name and number wouldn’t cut it because Swift & Co used the e-verify system. So a lot of people stole actual names and SSNs. People reported their IDs being stolen which prompted the ICE raid on Swift & Co.
You’ve got civil rights lawsuits on one side. You have ICE on the other side. Businesses are sitting in the middle. And both sides are starting to squeeze even harder now.
So stealing names and SSN’s are okay El Guapo? You are trying to justify these illegal actions by the illegal aliens and it will not stand. WE, the American people have spoken and we want the illegal aliens gone. I’m for controlleg legal immigration, work visa’s but am not rewarding lawbreakers with nothing.
Send a FREE fax to Warner and Webb asking them to support the SAVE act.
http://www.numbersusa.com/faxcenter?action=preview&ID=9259
I neither stated nor implied that stealing names and SSN’s is ok nor did I try to justify the illegal actions. I just provided the facts. If you think the facts justify the actions, then I suggest you get a friggin’ clue, man.
This is great news! I feel better today than yesterday.
I love the big ICE bus shipping the illegals off the Lansdowne property in the WJLA channel 7 video. It looks very nice and comfortable. They should have a much nicer journey south then they did north with that type of vessel. Add a complimentary beverage and they are all set! A few more thousand buses like that loaded up and it will feel like America again…
ICE, ICE baby!
El guapo,
you failed to read the post below “it is not illegal to refuse to hire someone who produced questionable documents” you are wrong. The employer can determine that the employee is too much of a risk to handle and decline to hire based on questionable documentation. The employer cannot discrimate based on race or sex, says nothing about not providing the required documentation. If the documentation looks altered then the employer has a right to deny hiring. If the documents look good and the SSN checks out, the employer is off the hook however e-verify would be a good idea to use to ensure everything is legal.
oh..and by the way, someone who got deported due to the swift meat packing raid was the one who stole my SSN. The lawsuit you provided was in 2002, the raid was after that. So you’ll see that apparently swift meatpacking had an issue there. You are the one who doesnt have a clue, why dont you just up and say that you want illegals to have free reign here and then go about your own way.
Medic64 - To whom have you sent your recommendations so that they will actually be acted on? Most of them sound reasonable, but it doesn’t do much good to lay them out HERE.
Josh wrote: “it’s not illegal to hire someone who cannot produce the proper documentation”
Why don’t you take Horton’s advice and mean what you say and say what you mean? Let’s start there.
Next, you can address my comments. Accusing me of claiming that stealing ID’s is ok when I neither wrote nor implied that does not contribute to a productive conversation.
Finally, deal with the facts. People here want to prosecute the employer when they have no proof that the employer committed an offense.
jfk said on 9 Apr 2008 at 10:15 am:
Is this the same Swift & Co. that operates a meat packing facility in the US? Weren’t they raided by ICE a year or two ago?
YUP!
MdMan said on 9 Apr 2008 at 11:00 am:
This is great news! I feel better today than yesterday.
Don’t hold you breath if you think they are going to be deported. The last bunch in PWC were released with their signed promise to self-deport. Now they are saying they didn’t know what they were signing. CATCH AND RELEASE!
“It was reported on WMAL this morning that most of the illegals caught in the raid at the cement plant on Wellington road recently were let go with A PROMISE THAT THEY WOULD LEAVE THE COUNTRY.”
Anyone have any links to this story?
Why couldn’t Chief Deane set something up with all the foreign consuls he met with to share the burden of repatriating their citizens? If these were truly meetings that focussed on treatment of their citizens shouldn’t that have come up?
Thanks for clarifying, Guapo and V1.
To clarify the WMAL report, actually only six of those arrested in PWC were released. The majority are still in the system. I stepped out at lunch time and heard this story on WMAL.
El Guapo said on 9 Apr 2008 at 12:06 pm:
Finally, deal with the facts. People here want to prosecute the employer when they have no proof that the employer committed an offense.
===================================
Maybe you’d be on to something if they only nabbed one illegal. They nabbed 59, repeat cincuenta nueve illegals. Seems pretty apparent the company was not doing their due diligence!!!
As I understand, E -verification will work if a social security card is presented by the employee. A social security card is not mandatory nor can an employer specify which type of documentation is to be used. Have you seen the list on the current I-9? It seems like quite the selection. Here is a list of the previously used documentation no longer used since the form was updated. Strictly speculation, but perhaps they were removed due to ease of counterfeiting.
•Five documents have been removed from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561)
Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)
Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151)
Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)
Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)
TDB: Maybe you’d be on to something if they only nabbed one illegal. They nabbed 59, repeat cincuenta nueve illegals. Seems pretty apparent the company was not doing their due diligence!!!
===================================
Due diligence constitutes completing and retaining Form I-9 and reviewing documents. A decent set of fraudulent documents capable of fooling most employers can be obtained for a couple hundred bucks. The employer views the documents that to the eye look every bit as valid as yours, completes the form and retains the form. That’s all the law requires.
It’s easy for someone to sit in their BVD’s at a computer and say the employer should be prosecuted. It’s not so easy to accumulate sufficient competent evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Easy for me…put me on the jury…GUILTY!!
Do you happen to know where to purchase these documents? I’d like to buy a couple of sets.
BTW it’s Jockey for me!
To El Quapo and all of the other illegal alien apologists:
Funny how you want to state what the law is and demand it be followed when it benefits your argument, but when it comes to immigration law it’s all bets are off. Why?
What did I do to make you conclude that my belief is that when it comes to immigration law it’s all bets are off? Be specific.
I’ll answer for TDB, ….El Guano, it indicates that you are an “ethno-centric”, racist Re-conquista Gringo hating, apologist for your brethren.
Let me guess, which of these hate groups do you belong to;….La Raza, LULAC, or MeCha???
I’m white, was born in DC and belong to neither La Raza, Lulac or mecha. I’ve never said anything hateful about gringos or any other group. Not that it matters. I guess I am an apologist for my brethren though: my fellow Americans. These business owners are being accused of crime, and despite my repeated requests, no one has provided proof that they have committed a crime.
I agree with Guapo. Innocent until proven guilty, but if they are guilty or negligent then they should be penalized.
El Guapo,
as far as them using ssno’s like 123-45-7890 and 000-00-0000, read it at the top of the blog - if that is not correct, then Greg L is putting a spin on it.
I could imagine that a few people could get by using fraudulent documentation, but currently about half of their staff was found out to be illegal. That is a large number for an employer to not know. The employer is supposed to be diligent about checking the validity of the documents - do the feds Really want to fix the problem - no they do not. If they did, there would be more than 1% of employers using it.
Bringing cheap labor to the US is just an extention of the US Globilization movement started years ago in the auto industry. We outsourced out auto making to the Japanese because it was cheaper (or easier for an American to live beyond his means) - now it is cheaper to bring the labor right here (to mow your lawn, or server you in a rest.).
Has PWC signed up to use E-Verify? I doubt it.
http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/news/english/story/66983.html
Pat.Herve wrote: “…Greg L is putting a spin on it.”
Greg wrote that those numbers “might” have been used. You were the one who put a spin on it.
El Guano, where do you think the robber barons such as “Tysons’ Foods” fit into the equation?
I suppose they are “pure as the driven snow”, eh?
Guapo,
if you call this spin - ” If the SSNO really reads 123-45-6789 - or 000-00-0000 that does not appear genuine.”
Then, I guess I spun.
Tazzmax I have no idea whether Tysons’ Foods is in violation of any crimes. If you have proof, then present it. The fact that they hire a lot of people with brown skin is not sufficient evidence to get a conviction
Let’s knock off the Guano smear, we all know what that means and it’s not funny anymore.
Guapo, you seem intelligent and make good points, but please stop with the brown skin references all the time. This arguement is not racially-based, and you cheapen what you say when you keep trying to inject skin color into the equation.
God help me, I sound like Dolph
We need to fire Julie Myers, head of ICE.
Second, Marriott has or is currently managing the Lansdowne Resort. Marriott is a major donor to the political parties and is very well connected.
Many of the Inaugural balls happen at properties that they manage in D.C.
jfk: SA reported seeing illegal immigrants driving expensive vehicles. He has been asked how he determines the legal status of the occupants of the vehicles. Until he discloses his method, I will assume that he determines legal status by appearance.
ESTOY ASUSTADA, MUY ASUSTADA!
If you’re here illegally Manuel Labor, you should be!