TN labor law penalizing employers of undocumented workers nets few violators

[Jeanfromfillmore]

TN labor law penalizing employers of undocumented workers nets few violators
Proponents heralded passage of a state law to penalize employers of undocumented workers as the moment Tennessee's allure to illegal immigrants began to fade.
But two years after the Illegal Alien Employment Act went into effect, state officials have closed 12 complaints involving 19 companies, and only one business was formally charged. That tally is well under what the law's supporters say they expected.
State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, the act's sponsor, said he wants labor officials to explain to the legislative Fiscal Review Committee he chairs why they're not doing more to enforce the act.
"I'm very disappointed in that," he said. "The Department of Labor is not doing as the General Assembly instructed."
Immigrant advocates say they're concerned those who file the complaints don't have the authority or the training to enforce immigration law, and they create an undue burden on small business owners.
"When someone goes into a Mexican restaurant and they hear the kitchen staff speaking Spanish, that's not enough to establish and substantiate an investigation," said Stephen Fotopulos, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
Under Tennessee's law, a reported business that hasn't taken steps to determine a worker's eligibility could lose the licenses it needs to operate until it can prove the illegal workers are gone. And a company caught twice in a three-year period could lose its licenses for up to a year.
State officials, law enforcement officers and state and local employees can file complaints based on their own observations. Members of the public must approach officials with information to file.
The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, charged with enforcing the employment act, says it's doing its best with limited resources. The department has 12 inspectors to investigate alleged child labor, workplace smoking, wage-and-hour and other labor complaints. The state's Illegal Alien Employment Act didn't come with funding for any new inspectors.
Few tools available
The law also didn't give the department the legal authority or information to determine whether workers are legally documented.
"We are rigorously enforcing it as well as we can," said Dan Bailey, general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. "We don't have many tools at our disposal because we cannot determine if someone is illegal. We can suspect it all we want to. But what we are empowered to do is just about limited to requesting I-9s."
Every person hired at a new job must complete a federal I-9 form attesting to their legal eligibility to work in the United States, plus show their employer some combination of identifying documents or work permits.
A Tennessee business that can show it completed this process or used a federal database known as E-Verify cannot be held accountable under the Tennessee law, even if workers are found to be unauthorized to work in the United States.
When the law was passed, Bailey said the department checked to see if the Davidson County Sheriff's Office could help the department enforce the law because of its special access to certain federal immigration databases. But the federal government, which granted the sheriff's office limited power to enforce immigration law, said the two agencies could not work together.
That leaves the department dependent on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate state employment act complaints, and that agency may have other priorities.
"I don't want to make it seem like I'm putting all the onus on them or that they are dragging their feet," Bailey said. "They have been very helpful. But they also have their own priorities and caseload issues."
Labor Department documents show some complaints were filed because all of the workers at a car wash spoke Spanish. Another was filed because an entire roadside crew looked "Mexican" to a passerby. One case was filed after a construction worker reported to Ketron that there were "more of them than us, Americans, at the jobsite."
Law can be misused
Jim Wakefield, who owns a Knoxville construction company that was the subject of a complaint, said he supports the law, but it has been the source of stress for business owners because competitors and others can misuse it.
"I have been investigated by the state and the federal government," said Wakefield. "Everything here has been looked over twice. That should show that I have no problem with the law."
A special agent with the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission filed the only complaint made public that resulted in action.
On Jan. 30, 2008, Brad Allison suspected worker documentation problems at Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant on Briley Parkway during a customary inspection. Three days later, he filed the complaint.
While the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development moved toward closing the case, Allison and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent showed up at the restaurant and arrested two Mazatlan employees.
Restaurant representatives agreed with Labor Department findings that it had violated the Illegal Alien Employment Act. The company submitted a sworn statement saying there were no more illegal workers on staff, and the matter was closed.
Neither Allison nor Mazatlan's owner responded to requests for comment.
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story...storyid=112717

[ilbegone]

While the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development moved toward closing the case, Allison and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent showed up at the restaurant and arrested two Mazatlan employees.

Restaurant representatives agreed with Labor Department findings that it had violated the Illegal Alien Employment Act. The company submitted a sworn statement saying there were no more illegal workers on staff, and the matter was closed.

Neither Allison nor Mazatlan's owner responded to requests for comment.

Why weren't the business owners arrested and prosecuted for aiding and abetting?

When that sort of action happens as a matter of course, the problem of illegal aliens will largely be over.