Officials plan to raise fines for hiring illegal immigrants

The Bush administration is rolling out new rules in the coming weeks that will impose requirements and fines on companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced Friday. One of the rules will increase civil fines by as much as $5,000, or 25 percent, for employers who hire illegal immigrants, Chertoff and Mukasey said during a news conference. The rule will take effect March 27. The minimum penalty for knowingly employing an undocumented worker will increase from $275 to $375, according to the Justice Department.

The maximum penalty for a first violation will jump from $2,200 to $3,200. And the biggest increase raises the maximum civil penalty for multiple violations from $11,000 to $16,000, the department said. Mukasey said the rule will mark the first time since 1999 that fines on employers have been increased.

Another rule will require federal contractors to use the E-verify program, which to this point has been a voluntary program that employers can use to check the immigration status of new hires. Chertoff said it would be particularly bad if federal contractors working to erect fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border were using undocumented workers. He said 53,000 employers use the E-verify program, and 1.7 million newly hired employees have been checked this fiscal year. A third rule is aimed at encouraging companies to scrutinize workers more if there are discrepancies with the Social Security numbers they use, the officials said.

Chertoff announced that the Homeland Security Department has accepted the first 28 miles of virtual fencing along the border near Nogales, Ariz. The P28 project uses technology, such as ground-based radars and cameras, to detect illegal activity along the border. The $20 million project was supposed to be completed in the summer, but became snarled with technical glitches.

Chertoff said the project contractor, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, sent in a new team to complete the effort and the glitches have either been fixed or minimized to irrelevancy. Chertoff said the project will not be duplicated in other sections of the border. He said the department will use technology, such as mobile ground-based sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles, in other border areas, but not in the exact configuration as the P28 project. "We're going to be guided by the operational requirements and strategy of the Border Patrol" along the border, Chertoff said.

Mukasey said the Justice Department is requesting $100 million in new funding in its fiscal 2009 budget request to conduct security operations along the border and prosecute offenders. Chertoff and Mukasey said violent activity, such as assaults on Border Patrol agents, is increasing along the U.S.-Mexico border as the government cracks down.